


Of Facades and High Fantasy

by AnimusOrigo1



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Persona 4
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-07
Updated: 2013-04-28
Packaged: 2017-12-07 17:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/751349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnimusOrigo1/pseuds/AnimusOrigo1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Persona 4/Skyrim crossover. Yu Narukami visits Inaba for Golden Week. As the Investigation Team meets at Yosuke's for a surprise, another one no one expected takes them on a new adventure. The problems they face, the scope of their adventure, and the people they meet will be more grand than ever before. Now they must investigate the forces that bring them to this strange new world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Of Facades and High Fantasy**

Chapter One: The Surprise Visit

 

_The train has come to a complete stop, welcome to Inaba._

            The announcement wakes me from my sleep. As my vision focuses from the groggy blur of sleep, hard lines and definite borders that make up individual objects break up the grey tones that made up the inside of the train form and give the world cohesiveness. I rise up from my seat, and open up the compartment above me and take out my luggage. It was only a medium sized box-like carrying bag with wheels. I pull the handle up, the metal poles extending and letting me roll it behind me.

 

            I eventually reach the exit of the train, after waiting in the line of passengers in front of me. I look around briefly, before squinting my eyes and covering my eyes with my arm. The sun’s pretty bright out today, and I wasn’t prepared. As soon as I regain my composure, I hear a familiar voice come from a direction I can’t quite pinpoint. “Big bro! Over here!” It sounds like a little girl, Nanako. I fix the bangs of my gray, bowl cut hair and head towards her, and the person accompanying her. Ryotaro Dojima, my uncle. He nods, and beckons me over while they both walk out of the station.

 

            “So, Yu. You’ve come back for Golden Week, yeah?” Ryotaro asks, stroking his stubbly chin.  “You’re here a bit early. A day, to be exact.”

 

            I nod. “Yeah. Speaking of which, I should probably find out where my friends are. I want to surprise them. I’ll call them once I unpack.”

 

            Nanako gives me a hug, and smiles. “Welcome back. It’s good to see you!” She says.

 

            I return the hug and nod. “It’s good to see you too, Nanako.”

 

            I open the door to the car, sitting in the back seat. I buckle up and sit back, as the car starts and drives from the once again empty station.  I wonder about how my friends are doing. Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Naoto… I wonder how they all were since we solved all those murders in this town a year ago.

 

            We formed the Investigation Team as a result of a string of killings that involved throwing people inside the television. Their Shadows in the TV world got to them, when they were thrown in. We got hints as to who they were and when it was happening through the Midnight Channel. On a rainy night, on the dead of Midnight when your TV was turned off… images of the next victim were played.

 

           

 

The car ride home being quiet, I just look out the window out towards the town. We pull up to the residence, as Ryotaro shuts the car off. We get out and enter the house. I walk up to my old room, and set my bag down. I pull my cell phone from my pocket and open it up, sifting through my contacts list. I reach the end and find Yosuke’s name. I click the button to call him and hold the phone to my ear.

 

            I hear him pick up and ask. “’Sup, Yu?” In the background, I can hear Teddie whining about something. Yosuke yells at him to shut up, and comes back. “Back.”

 

            I stifle a laugh. “How is everyone?” I ask.

 

            “What? Why’re you asking that? ‘Dunno. I think everyone’s fine.” He replies.

 

            “Heh. I’m here early. I’m in Inaba, you think we could round up the gang?” Before I hear an answer, I listen to Yosuke and Teddie fighting amongst themselves once more.

 

            “Sure. I don’t think anything is going on. I’ll ask Chie, if you got Yukiko. But we’re meeting at my house! I have something to show you guys! Let’s not bother rendezvousing at our headquarters.” Our headquarters, the Junes food court, is where we always went to meet up to investigate the murders here one year ago.

 

            “Yeah. I’ll see you there.” Yosuke hangs up. I close my phone, and walk back downstairs. I head to Ryotaro in the living room. “I’m going to Yosuke’s house. I’ll be back, later.”

 

            The middle-aged man nods. “Alright. Be careful.” He says, as he waves me off.

 

            I walk out the door, and open up my phone again, I scroll down my contacts just one more name, Yukiko. I click the button and put it up to my ear. It rings, for a bit before she answers. “Hello, Yu.” She says.

 

            “Hey, Yukiko. Meet us at Yosuke’s house. I’m at Inaba, and he has something to show us.” I say.

 

            “Alright. I’ll meet you guys there. Good to talk to you!” She hangs up, and I close my phone. I walk through the town, and stuff my hands down my pockets.

 

            I look around, and look at all the small shops that seem to be empty. Soon, I reach Yosuke’s house. I knock on the door, and wait a bit as Yosuke opens it up to answer. “Heya’! C’mon in, Chie’s already here, and Teddie went to Junes to work. Now we gotta’ wait for Yukiko.”

 

            I nod, and walk inside, Chie gets up from the couch to come hug me. “Yu! How’ve you been? The big city treating you well?”

 

            I nod. “Yeah. Everything good, in Inaba?” I ask.

 

            She walks back and sits on the couch. “Yeah. Though, there’s something on the news that happened a few days ago.”

 

            I sit next to Chie and look to the TV. On it, is a news report on what they say is a freak lightning strike on a house. But on the TV, the house has just a large hole on the roof. It doesn’t even look like it’s burned.

 

            Yosuke blinks. “…It wasn’t even raining, last night. I think maybe there was _a_ cloud, but a lightning strike sounds waaaaaaay too unlikely.” He says.

 

            “I agree.” I say, “It doesn’t even look like anything was burnt. It’s just… a giant hole in this person’s roof.” I cross my arms and shake my head.

 

            Chie shrugs. “Nature’s weird. But this town’s weirder. At this point, we’ll just have to find out when that bridge comes.”

 

            We hear a knock on the door. Yosuke heads to the door and answers. “Hey, Yukiko!” He says, as he lets her in.

 

            She smiles to me, and nods. “Good to see you, Yu. Welcome back.” I nod back, as we all look to Yosuke.

 

           “Alright. We’re aaallllll here now. We can see the thing I got!” Yosuke says excitedly.

 

           Chie blinks. “What about Kanji, or Naoto?” She asks.

 

           Yosuke shrugs. “Tried calling them after you, Chie. Kanji’s busy at the textile shop, and Naoto’s working on a case.”

 

           I shrug. “Maybe we can ask Naoto about that house, later.” We all head up the stairs, and through the hallway.

 

            Yosuke opens up the door to his room, running and exclaiming. “Ta da!” He points to his new TV, in his room with both hands in an exaggerated pose. “It’s my new TV! It’s the big screen we used to enter the TV world. I even got an Xbox 360 and a game for it!”

 

           Chie blinks, and scratches her head. “Nice. Wish I had something like that in my room.”

 

           I quirk a brow. “And… how long did it take to save up for all of that?” I ask, a knowing smile bordering on a smirk present on my face.

 

           Yosuke blushes and spazzes out. “Shut up! It didn’t take me _that_ long! Why do you have to ask questions!?” He slumps forward briefly, before regaining his composure and turning on his game system. I look to the system in question, and notice a plethora of stickers.

 

           “Yosuke, what’s with the uh… decorations?” I ask.

 

           He shook his head. “I bought it used. It was from the people with the house that has the hole in it. They said they needed the money to repair it.”

 

           Yukiko blinks. “What game do you have in there?” She asks.

 

           Yosuke grabs his controller and giggles in glee. “The Elder Scrolls Five, Skyrim!” He exclaims.

 

           Chie rolls her eyes. “Skyrim? In Twenty-Twelve? Really?”

 

           I shrug. “Isn’t that game still full price? You’d think after almost two years they’d lower it just a _little_.”

 

           Yosuke grumbled a bit, before responding. “Hey! There’s a reason it’s still full price. It’s freakin’ good! Besides, on my hi-def TV, it looks amazing. C’mon. I just started it, yesterday. I made my own person!”

 

           Look to the game itself. It looks pretty realistic, yeah. Yosuke’s character is running around in the game world, fighting some dragon in some fantasy land.

 

           Chie rolls her eyes. “We were brought here for a video game? C’mon! I was in the mood for some beefsteak down at Junes!”

 

           I shrug. “It’s not even a multiplayer game.”

 

           And then it happens. The floor starts to shake, and it feels like something is drawing us in. We all start panicking, scrambling to hold on to something.

 

           “What’s going on!?” Yosuke yells, as he protects…. His… game system…

 

           Okay, Yosuke. You do that.

 

           Yukiko and I grab onto Yosuke’s bed.  “Is it an earthquake?” She asks loudly.

 

           Chie grabs onto a chair. “Yosuke! I swear this TV is cursed!”

 

           But soon, the current pulling us overpowers our grips, and sucks us inside Yosuke’s TV.

 

           The fall seems different, it feels like a Technicolor display of some kind of hole we’re warping through. This doesn’t feel like the TV world we usually enter.

 

           We all hit the ground, landing somewhere completely different. I look up to see a dragon in the night sky staring me down from in the air. And he doesn’t look happy, either. We all get up quickly as we hear it roar at us.

 

           “Oh what the HELL, Yosuke?!” Chie yells, as she grabs Yosuke by the collar, seemingly forgetting about the dragon.

 

           Chie shook him about as he yells. “Chie I swear to crap I will apologize later! But first there IS A THING THAT WANTS TO KILL US!”

 

           Chie tosses him away from her grip, and gulps. “Uhhh… crap.” She utters.

 

           The dragon takes a deep breath, as we’re all pushed aside by another person. “Get out of the way!” A gruff, deep voiced helmed man yells. The dragon exhales, a large stream of fire burning the ground we were standing on.

 

           The large man grunts, and holds his dual swords in a fighting stance. The same man Yosuke was controlling in his game. He charges and yells something.

 

           “FUS!” He booms, a wave of force being sent out by his voice. The dragon loses its balance and lands, the charging man swinging his swords to slash at the dragon’s face.

 

           The dragon bull rushes him and knocks him on his back. It jumps up and tries to simply devour the man. “FUS RO!” He yells again, the beast tumbling on its back, in a sweeping reversal. He leaps up and starts slashing and stabbing its underbelly. It screams and takes in another deep breath. The man widens his eyes, as he’s caught without time to move.

 

           I act with instinct, focusing my thoughts, conjuring and crushing the tarot card floating above my hand. “Izanagi!” I exclaim, my Persona appearing in front of me. And then I shout once more. “Ziodyne!” The black clad Persona raises his hand, holding his blade behind him, and letting a bolt of lightning strike the dragon.

 

           The large beast falls limp, now lifeless with the final blow given to him. The man hops off of the dragon, as it starts to glow and disintegrate. A glowing rush of power washes over the chain clad man, as the beast only leaves bones behind.

 

           We all stare blankly at the large, briefly glowing man. He walks up to us, and takes his helmet off. His face looks weathered, a bushy brown beard covering his jaw while a mustache that connects to it obscures his upper lip. “What… who are you people?” He quirks a bushy brow, while sweeping his dark brown hair back.

 

           I step forward and nod. “We’re from… a different world. We dropped in here after something sucked us in.”

 

           The bearded man shrugs. “Well. Welcome to Tamriel, then. But by the Nine, what was that thing you summoned?” He asks.

 

           I cross my arms. “That’s something we have, to fight. That was my Persona. You can call it… the façade, or mask you use to get through the day. We’ve only ever used them on Shadows… physical manifestations of unwanted feelings.”

 

           The man stares blankly at me, and shook his head. “I’m going to assume that it’s a your world thing, and not something I can throw you into a looney house for. At any rate, it’s an interesting magic you, and apparently your friends are able to conjure. My name is Dunjar.”

 

           I nod. “My name is Yu Narukami.”

 

           “Chie Satonaka.”

 

           “Yosuke Hanamura.”

 

           “Yukiko Amagi.”

 

           The burly man nods. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Though, you four look like no nords I’ve seen. Breton?”

 

           We all stare at each other. Yukiko speaks up. “Nord? Breton?”

 

           Dunjar shook his head. “I’ll just pin you people down as… just humans. Divines only know just what you are.”

 

           I shrug. “Do you know where any towns are? We’ll need a place to stay. We have no idea where we are.”

 

           The nord laughs. “Of course. I can take you to Whiterun. I’ll even pay for a room. Though, if you want money for food, I suggest you people take those… Persona things and do some jobs. The folk in town will pay good coin.” He starts walking along the road to the left of us, the four of us joining him. I take in the landscape.

 

           The grass below us looks dead, but carries a dark due painted by the night only given illumination by the moon above us. Trees were scarce, but the stone mountains were prominent in the far reaches of the land. I just now notice the cold that clung to the air. It’s not freezing cold, but it’s enough to send the four of us shivering, even in our long sleeved outfits. Well, I guess they’re thin compared to what the nord is wearing, thick furs under light chain mail.

 

           By the way, the creepy similarity to norse culture is noted. Though, I guess it’s justified by the fact this is fiction, regardless of the sobering realization that this is all very, very real.

 

           Chie breaks my train of thought with her own. “Guys… how are we going to get home without an escape TV? This isn’t exactly the typical spot we land in.”

 

           I shook my head. “I… have no clue. We need to find ways within this world to get back.”

 

           Yosuke chimes in. “Or, we can hope Teddie notices when he gets home from Junes. The system wasn’t turned off, neither was the TV. Maybe the camera is still following Dunjar.”

 

           And that’s when it hit me. Yosuke knows this world more than anyone. He even created the guy we’re following. “Yosuke. I’m pretty sure we’ll be relying on you, until then. You’ve played this game, if even for a little bit. If what you’re saying is right, we just need to last here until Teddie can break us out.”

 

           Yosuke nods. “Yeah. I know a bit. The guy we’re following is the Dragonborn, or Dovahkiin. He’s able to suck the souls out of dragons and use their power.”

 

           The nord stops. “…How do you know that?” He asks.

 

           Yosuke stammers. I don’t think he wanted to drop the bombshell that he wasn’t real. Smart choice. “Uh-uhh… you’re very famous! Who wouldn’t be?”

 

           The nord smirks, and continues his journey. “Damn straight. We’re almost there, by the way. Just a little farther.” He points. We can see the city in the far landscape. “Heh. I do have a house, but even with my title as Thane, my house isn’t big enough to for four more people without driving me insane.”

 

           I nod. “Do you think we could find a few weapons, as well?”

 

           The bearded man lets out a chuckle. “If you kids can lift them, I’m sure I could spare a few weapons I’ve found, so far.”

 

           Yosuke smirks, and whispers to me. “I got a lot of different types of weapons stored in his house. I wanted him to be a jack-of-all-trades kinda’ guy. We got this.”

 

           I smile, as we both bump fists. We finally reach the gates, and walk inside the town of Whiterun. The town seems to have calmed down, since it’s night. Dunjar nods to the woman at the blacksmith forge. “I got some stuff to sell to ya’!”

 

           The woman shakes her head. “Sell, sell, sell! It’s always selling. Buy something for a change!”

 

           The nord man laughs, and continues down the path. We head inside the inn, greeted by the woman innkeeper. Dunjar places a few gold coins on the table. “Get me a room for these kids. “

 

           The inkeeper laughs. “Of course. I’ll show you people the room.” She walks from behind the counter, motioning for the four of us to follow. She guides us up the ladder-like stairs, and shows us the room. It wasn’t the biggest room ever, only one bed, a dresser, and a chest. “Have a nice night.” The woman says, before climbing back down.

 

           Dunjar nods. “Meet me at the well, in the morning. If you’re not there, I’ll wake your asses up. Until then, good night.”

 

           He leaves, as we scan the room. The every first thing I hear is. “I get the bed!” Exclaimed by Chie.

 

           Yosuke whines. “Awwwwww! Can you at least spare the pillow?”

 

           Chie throws the pillow at Yosuke. I search the chest in front of the bed, and take out two blankets and a pillow. I throw a blanket and pillow to Yukiko. “Catch.”

 

           “Thanks, Yu.” She says. She’s been quiet thus far, since we’ve landed here. But I guess that’s expected.

 

           Yosuke flails. “Are you sure there isn’t another blanket?”

 

           I shrug. “You have a pillow. Just be thankful. If you need to be warm, I’m sure Yukiko has an Agi spell.”

 

           Chie shrugs. “I’m sure Teddie’ll be here, tomorrow, anyway. If not even tonight.”

 

           Yosuke blinks. “Uhhhhhhhhhhhh…. Guys. I forgot to mention something. In the game… time is a lot faster. An few hours in this game can be like…. Thirty seconds in our world.”

 

           Chie drops her jaw and gapes. “Crap! And Teddie _just_ went to work when I arrived at your place?”

 

           I shook my head. “It seems we’ll be here a while.”

 

           Yukiko shrugs. “If that’s so… we’ll need to get prepared for a long journey, tomorrow.”

 

           I sigh. “Until then, good night.”

 

           Yosuke relaxes on the floor. “G’night.”

 

           Chie covers herself up on the bed and throws her shoes on the floor. “Night, guys.”

 

           Yukiko closes her eyes after covering herself up, as well. “Good night.”

 

           I drape the blanket on myself and close my eyes. Hopefully tomorrow will be the start of figuring out why we’re here. Who’s responsible, and what this serves.

 

_Until then, I’ll take this time to rest. I’ll need it._

 


	2. Chapter Two: The First of Many Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yu, Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko prepare for their journey in Skyrim.

**Of Facades and High Fantasy**

Chapter Two:  The First of Many Steps

 

_Welcome… to the Velvet Room._

Okay, to be honest? I was expecting this. Something this weird is going on, I was sure the whole time that I would uh… somehow visit the Velvet Room, once more. I was pulled into, or came into this place often when we were investigating the murders in Inaba, just a year ago.

 

            I look around, the room as usual is a dark blue all over. It can’t even be described to be much of a room. It’s more like the inside of a limousine. To the left of me, a very low shelf of wine glasses and various bottles of expensive looking alcoholic beverages.  At the end of the room, is an old man with large ears, a very long nose, and bulging eyes. He looks to me with his always showing grin. His name is Igor, and to the right of him is a beautiful woman. She’s dressed in blue, with a pale complexion and blonde hair.

 

            The old man starts to speak. “Hello. I see you have once again fallen into the events of another tale. You have crossed destinies with the doom driven hero of divine purpose. You are now on his path, along with many others. As much as the same can be said for him. Beware, for the line between fact and fiction is not as clean cut as you may imagine. What is imagined and what is real may not be as mutually exclusive as you may think. As long as you stay true to yourself, and your friends do the same, you will figure out the mysteries bigger than any world.”

 

            I nod, hands resting behind my back. Margaret, the woman next to him nods. “Your friends of the present and your friends of the future will serve as the strength you will tap into to unravel the mystery ahead.”

 

            Igor looks up to me, and laughs. “It was good to see you, again. I look forward to our next meeting. I will be speaking to a wiser man. Goodbye.”

 

            The room starts to fade, as I start to see black.

 

_Hey, Yu. Wake up._

            I open my eyes and see Yukiko and Chie standing over me. Chie pulls me up, the floorboard squeaking as my feet put my weight on the ground below me. “Good morning!” Said Yukiko. I rub my eyes, and nod to Yukiko.

 

            “Good morning, Yukiko. Good morning, Chie.” I say with a yawn.

 

           

 

 

            Chie jerks her thumb to Yosuke. “This one’s still asleep.” I look next to the bed. Indeed he is, snoring and everything. “I even picked him up and he wouldn’t budge. Now I get to use what I saved for last!” She walks up to the sleeping Yosuke, and winds up a kick, releasing it and sending a lightning fast foot straight into the sleeping man’s hindquarters.

 

            “YEOWCH!!” He yells, rolling over and curling into a fetal position. “Chie… I swear… you’re way too violent…”

 

            I stifle yet another laugh at Yosuke’s expense, and grab Yosuke by the arm to help him up. I give a pat on the shoulder to the standing classmate. “I think that’s what we need to be, in this world. Speaking of violence, we’ll need to meet Dunjar at the well. Didn’t you say he has all kinds of weapons at his house?”

 

            Yosuke nods. “Yeah. I was gonna’ level mostly every combat skill on him. So, I figure he’s got something for everyone here.”

 

            Chie shrugs. “He got anything to make me kick better?”

 

            “Wellllll. I did level up his smithing skill… maybe we can improvise something?”

 

            Chie develops a wicked grin. “Then I know _exactly_ what I’ll ask for.”

 

            Yukiko nods. “I’m… not sure what I could use in a medieval fantasy setting…”

 

            Yosuke shrugs. “I know he has a staff or two. They do different spells. Plus, I can get you small weapons for a sidearm.”

 

            I start to head downstairs. “We’ll sort it out when we get there. Let’s just meet Dunjar before he decides to wake us up himself.”

 

            The gang follows me down, as I see the inn in a much more lively state. The bard plays on his lute, barely heard over the soft roar of the conversations had by the patrons. A few look at us, a man I assume to be a nord eyes me up and down in particular. I hear murmurs about our outfits, or about why my hair is gray.

 

            I open the door and leave the inn. As I head towards the well, I hear a woman selling vegetables, and a beggar asking for coin. I see Dunjar, at the other side of the well, and approach him with my friends. “We’re here.” I say.

 

            The nordic man nods, stroking his bushy beard. “That you are. Took long enough. Any longer and I would have come up there, or left without you.”

 

            Yosuke shrugs. “Yeah. Anyway, your house should have plenty of weapons for us to borrow, right?”

            The burly nord nods. “Aye. What nord doesn’t hold a variety of arms in his home?” He laughs. “C’mon. I’ll show you my place.” Dunjar leads on, as we follow him through the streets of Whiterun. The nip in the air wasn’t as bad as it was last night, with the sun out. But still, it was enough to bother me.

 

            We reach what I assume to be Dunjar’s house, as he takes out his key and unlocks the door, opening it and holding it open for the four of us. We walk inside, soon Dunjar closing the door behind him. “Search the chest near the table. That’s got most of my weapons.”

 

            I look around. It’s a quaint two story house. A fire pit directly in front of me, illuminating the house with a stewing pot for cooking seems to have been used recently. The floor seems to be made out of stone and clacks with each step I take, as I head towards the chest. I kneel down and undo the latches. I open the chest, and start taking out the weapons. Two steel swords, a greatsword, five daggers, a bow, a shield, a staff, and a hammer. I motion to the others. “Alright, guys. Pick your poison.”

 

            Yosuke picks up two of the daggers. “Heh. Just my style!” He spins them in his hands.

 

            I pick up the steel sword. It’s similar in length to my katana. At least this sword is. It’s quite a bit heavier, but this is the best shot I have.

 

            Yukiko picks up the staff, and a dagger. She looks to Dunjar, and then Yosuke. “Uh… how do I use this?”

 

            Yosuke shrugs. “I just know it spits out firebolts. Ask him how to use it.”

 

            Chie crosses her arms, and picks up a dagger. “Hey, Dunjar. I have a favor to ask. Can you put spikes on the bottom of my shoes?”

 

            The nord stares blankly, but shrugs. “Uh… sure? I’m not sure why you’d want that, but I can certainly do so. I guess. And… Yukiko, I suggest concentrating. You have to focus your will into the staff, and it’ll shoot out a firebolt. Just. Not in here.”

 

            Yukiko nods. “Of course. Thank you.”

 

            I take one of the leather sheathes. “Yeah. We’ll have to find a way to repay you for these.” I slide my sword inside, and strap the sheath to me.

 

            The nord laughs. “You will be, by helping me. You’re taking these weapons to help me on a mission I have received. We’ll be heading to Ustengrav to get the horn of Jurgen Windcaller.”

 

            Yosuke blinks. “Oh yeah. That quest. How much will we get paid?”

 

            The nord shrugs. “The way you make money is finding anything inside and selling it. They seem to have the most valuable things inside the crypts. Come, Chie. I’ll be fixing your shoes up.”

 

            Chie nods, and walks out the door with Dunjar. Yosuke looks to me. “Byyyyy the way. He said crypt. The last time there was a crypt in the quests, uh… there were zombies. Lots of Viking zombies. Crap, man. Viking zombies just _sound_ scary as hell.”

 

            I shrug. “Well. We’re armed, now. Plus we have our Personas. I’m sure the protagonist of a video game, and four people armed with weapons and Personas can get through a crypt.”

 

            Yukiko nods. “Yeah. We’ve faced worse. Plus I’d say we’re armed a bit better than we were in the TV world a year ago.”

 

            Yosuke shrugs. “A bit. Though, after this… we should be able to afford some basic armor. Nothing huge. I mean… some leather. Maybe some scale. Heh, maybe even some robes of magic, for Yukiko. The staves actually scale with your magical power.”

 

            Yukiko smiles. “That sounds great. But until then, we’ll be going out, almost the same as the regular TV World.”

 

            Chie and the nord come back inside the house. She lifts up a foot excitedly. “I got spikes on my shoes! Those things we’ll be fight won’t know what hit’em!”

 

            Yosuke widens his eyes. “Okay, Chie! You’re no longer allowed to kick us! That’s just messed up!”

 

            Dunjar motions for us to get going. “C’mon. We’ll take a carriage to Morthal, then we’ll be going northwest. I’ve got plenty of rations for the ride there, and I’ll stop at the inn for more, for the rest of the trip.”

 

            We head to the streets of Whiterun once more, weaving through the traffic of people that move through the city. We walk past the gates of Whiterun and into the world once more. The landscape no longer carries the dark tones of night, now the mix of yellows, browns, and the occasional green that all contrasts with the blue sky, with tall, gray mountains with white peaks in the far distance to break them up. We walk down the ‘road’ which consists of stones, I see the carriage. Dunjar takes his sack of coins and starts counting. “I’d like to go to Morthal.”

 

            The bald man on the carriage nods, shifting his stubbly jaw as if he were chewing something. “Hop on back, and we’ll be off.”

 

            We all load up on the back of the wooden carriage. I sit next to the nord and Yosuke, while Yukiko and Chie sit next to each other. The burly man looks to me and lies back. “So, how did you get those Persona… things?” He asks.

 

            I cross my legs, and look to the nord. “Well… I was given my power, but the others had to face their own Shadows to get their Personas. In the TV world… you’re bound to find your Shadow. The physical manifestation of the feelings to bury away, and don’t want people you see. If you deny that it’s a part of you, it grows stronger. Eventually, it kills you. The only way to defeat it is to accept it.”

 

            Dunjar quirks a brow, as the carriage starts to roll off. “Well. That doesn’t sound too hard.” He laughs. “If that’s all you have to do, you should point me in the direction of mine!”

 

            Yukiko shakes her head. “It’s… not that simple. Everyone has these feelings that they don’t want to accept. The deepest, darkest secrets. The regrets they have. The parts of themselves they don’t like. It’s different for everyone, and it always cuts deep within you.”

 

            I nod. “Yeah. Every time we end up finding someone’s Shadow… they always seem like a wreck throughout the whole thing. But every time we fought it, it took the strength of heart boosted by the bonds of friendship. They just want to be accepted, like the person denying it.”

 

            Yosuke cringes. “Yeah. I’m really glad I wasn’t able to see myself that day. I was on the floor and everything. Shadows don’t mess around.”

 

            Dunjar rests his head against the wall of the carriage and shrugs. “Eh. I’m sure we’ll be fine. Besides, we have a bit more to worry about. Y’know. The living dead, bandits, dragons. Those kinda’ things.”

 

            Chie shrugs. “Sounds fun. Besides, I just wanna’ test these new shoes. When will we get to Morthal?”

 

            The nordic man laughs. “It’ll be about… eight or so hours. It’s why we woke up early.”

 

            I blink, but shrug. “Huh. Oh well. More time to relax before the big mission.” I rest my arms behind my head, and just look at the scenery around us. We already were crossing into one of the forests. I close my eyes, and just let myself drift off into sleep, again. At least I’ll get to catch up on the sleep, which wasn’t too long.

 

_Besides. I’ll need all the rest I can get._


	3. Chapter Three: Through Ustengrav

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The five ventures through Ustengrav to find the horn, and the Persona users find a taste of just the sort of things they'll be up against.

**Of Facades and High Fantasy**

Chapter Three: Through Ustengrav

 

_“Yu, wake up. The carriage stopped.”_

            I open my eyes, and see Yosuke tugging me by the collar. “C’mooooonnnnn. Dunjar bought the rest of his supplies a long time ago. You can _seriously_ sleep. It’s kinda’ freaky.”

 

            Chie laughs, crossing her arms. “Just watch, tonight. Yu won’t be able to sleep at all.”

 

            Dunjar pulls me off of the carriage, and stuffs a bag of supplies onto me. “Here. Potions and poisons. Don’t need anyone dying in there. C’mon! We’ll be heading towards Ustengrav, for the horn.”

 

            We start walking away from the town, and notice that the landscape has definitely changed since we left Whiterun. No longer are we in clear plains of grass and rock, now we seem to be in a marsh. Still fairly cold, probably colder. I can even see bits of snow and ice scattered on the town’s buildings and scarcely on the ground. The ground gives only slightly as I step on it, creating a bizarre effect where I feel like I’m sinking, but it looks like I haven’t moved an inch, vertically. Nor has anyone else. I see bits of water scattered around what land I see, but ahead was some sort of lake. But it’s clear the route we’re taking will take us around it, rather than through.

 

            Curiously, Dunjar seems to have his two swords out, as we walk. He’s rarely focused on more than one spot at a time, looking around on a constant basis. But then again, I’d be cautious if everything not in a town tried to kill me, in this world.

 

            Yosuke takes out one of his daggers and starts applying one of the poisons to it, rubbing the weapon down with a cloth. Afterwards, he sheathes it and takes out the next. He repeats the process and looks into his bag. He takes out a pastry, covered in a sugary glaze. “Man, these sweet rolls are delicious.” He says, muffled by a mouthful.

 

            I roll my eyes. “Shouldn’t you wash your hands? I don’t think eating something with them is a good thing to do right after you handle poisons. Just saying.”

 

            Yosuke widens his eyes and spits out the mouthful he had. “…Shut up, Yu.”

 

            I give a short laugh. “Just saving your life. Or your stomach, at least.” I shrug.

 

            Dunjar quirks a heavy brow at us. “…I swear. You kids seem to goof around too much. Half the time I’ve heard you talk, it’s something at the other’s expense. I hope you will at least get serious when we get inside Ustengrav.”

 

            Chie crosses her arms. “I’m sure we’ll be fine. We’ve been up against worse things.”

 

            The nord snorts. “That’s what you say, but I’d still appreciate a bit of a concentrated effort. Small mistakes become big if you trip over the wrong thing.”

 

            I nod. “Yeah. This may not be the TV world, but I’d still rather not falter around the walking dead.”

 

            Yukiko speaks up, as she walks, using her new staff as a walking stick. “Do the undead have a particular weakness we could exploit? I’m sure we could all appreciate a advantage.”

 

            Dunjar shrugs. “I’ve only been slicking through them. But I suppose fire could be particularly effective. I don’t think the corpses could stay together all too well when they’re being burned.”

 

            Chie stuck her tongue out. “Yeah. And between that new staff, and Konohana Sakuya, we’ll have all the fire spells we need.”

 

            The bearish nord stops, suddenly, and looks down at the bowl shaped hole, lined with stone below. “We’re at the entrance.” He says softly. “There will most likely be bandits here. Keep your voices down, they always inhabit the first part of these kinds of ruins.” He starts to carefully go down the stairs, a wide spiral lined up with the bowl shaped indent.

 

            I slowly sheathe my new sword and hold it in my hands, getting a feel for the weight and balance of the blade. Yosuke takes out his daggers, as Yukiko readies her staff. The nord finds the spiral stairs downward, and indeed finds two men dressed in leather with their weapons drawn. They were obviously guarding it, and as soon as they saw us, the bandits charged.

 

            The burly man grins, and runs with swords high towards the charging men. He clashes blades with one of the antagonizers, and easily overpowers them with his strength. Chie and I take the second bandit, the green sweater-wearing woman kicking the second bandit’s hand axe, sending it flying into the air.

 

           Meanwhile, Yosuke took his chance to slip behind the first bandit, sinking his two daggers into the man’s back with a sickening ‘thunk!’. Meanwhile, I took advantage of the second bandit’s disarmed state, running up to the stunned thug and slashing his chest with my sword. It was a shallow cut, not doing very much to hinder him in his newfound rage. He pushes me away and seeks to take me to the ground, indicated by his low stance and weaving pattern.

           

           “Yu! Move!” I hear from Yukiko, and I move to the left, dodging the man’s charge and raising my sword. I see why Yukiko yelled for me to move when a firebolt strikes his wounded chest dead center. The second bandit falls on his back, joining the first. Both unresponsive, we all look to the nord.

 

           Dunjar smirks at us. “Heh. Looks like you kids can hold weapons. Well. That’s good. Those were just the guards. I’m _sure_ we’ll be getting a warm welcome from their friends.” He simply opens the door in front of us and walks in right in, swords held in front of him.

 

           Yosuke shrugs. “It seems we’re throwing subtlety to the wind. Oh well.” He says.

 

           We look inside the dark cavern looking room. Everything is structured from dull brown stone, the crude candle lighting hitting the stone. The result is a small, normal fire with the rock’s illumination being a sickly dull color with green tones creeping in.

 

           I hear rustling, before faint echoes of ‘Did you hear that’, and ‘You shouldn’t have come here’. One female, one male. I raise my sword, as Dunjar wastes no time on another one of those shouting attacks.

 

           “WULD!” He yells, speeding forth like the fury of the wind, one of his blades driving through the male bandit’s neck with efficiency that almost borders on overkill.

 

           But from that, several people in robes show up. The three people look to the one bandit, already dead. They throw their hands forward, loosing elemental fury in our direction. Ice, fire, and lightning fly towards us as we all leap out of the way. Dunjar, however, charges through the ice to hack one of the sorcerer’s guts. The thaumaturge collapses shortly after, as the female bandit heads for me, mace ready. I parry the strike by raising my blade with both hands. I have no choice but to slowly back away as I try not to get overpowered by what I assume to be nord woman.

 

           Of course there had to be a Viking parallel.

 

           I quickly remove the blade, slinking away from the wrath of her hammer. I run back up with my blade held high, taking advantage of her recovery time. But before I could attempt to swing, an explosion I nearly suffered the full wrath of blows me back, only barely landing on one knee after my slide. The pyromancer had set his sights on me, his face obscured by his hood. The sorcerer conjures some guy made out of pure fire, the monstrosity elegantly sliding in a dance-like fashion towards me.

 

           Chie laughs. “I know how to deal with fire guys!” She summons her tarot card out of willpower, and shatters it with a kick. “Tomoe Gozen!” She shouts. Her Persona appears, fading in behind her. Tomoe Gozen dons her yellow jumpsuit looking skin, her… ‘skirt’ of plate looking plank shaped object swaying just slightly. The Persona spins her double bladed halberd as Chie commands. “Mabufu!” And from it, shards of ice fly towards both the monster and the pyromancer. Both clutch at their torsos, but it’s the fire creature that explodes, finally ending the summoner’s life.

 

           I get up, as Yosuke has been dodging electrical bolts this whole time, screaming, “A little help, guys?!”, as Dunjar battles a creature of storm. Yukiko finally breaks through the crowd to get a clear shot at the last sorcerer. She concentrates again and fires off a bolt of fire at the electromancer. It strikes him in the head, the man clutching his face before he finally stops moving.

 

           The female bandit that was knocked around by the explosion comes back for me. I raise my blade and dive under, I use her momentum against her and trip her by tackling her legs. The nord woman tumbles over and ends up on her stomach. Chie’s Persona wastes no time and slices the woman’s head of with a spinning halberd. The yellow woman disappears, as Dunjar finally smashes the storm conjuration with his swords.

 

           Dunjar lets out a hearty laugh that echoes through the stone hall. “That was a great battle! You four impress me with each passing action. Let’s go. We’ve not even seen the crypt part of the crypt, as of yet.” He motions with his arm to the entrance to the next room.

 

           But behind me, I hear, “Score!” From Yosuke. Dunjar and I turn back, as the other three are digging in a chest they found. “Yu! I found an amethyst! Along with some potions, and a robe.”

 

           Chie shakes a smaller pouch she found. “Quite a bit of coin, here.”

 

           Yukiko holds some strange flowers and mushrooms. “These must be alchemical ingredients. I’ll save these. We could always use more potions.”

 

           Dunjar taps his foot. “Pocket the stuff, and let’s get going. We don’t have all day for treasure hunting.”

 

           The three take the stuff they found, and stuff it in their pockets. I pick up a satchel from one of the dead sorcerers, slinging it over my back, and start walking along. “If you guys have any heavy findings, put them in here. Keep an eye out for bags.”

 

           We go through the curved hallway, the shrill, voiceless call assaults our ears and catches us off guard. I see two emaciated, pale figures with axes raised at us running in our direction. The Dragonborn has no problem sending both swords into the gut of the first one, as I charge up to the other and hack at its midsection. I hit its side and keep going, almost a clean horizontal cut through the belly. I remove my sword, and look to Dunjar. “So, these are the undead in question?”

 

           He smirks. “Yup. But don’t you rest easy, these are the easy ones. Just wait until they start popping up with armor and shouting at you.” He winks. “But you we’ll see how tough they are.”

 

           We keep walking through, as Yosuke picks up from behind to get to me, fistbumping. “Nice cut, Yu. That was almost half.” He says.

 

           I shrug. “Let’s just keep our eyes open. I’m sure we’ll all get our chance.” I say, as we proceed through the next hallway. I see empty spaces carved into the wall, probably mean to store individual bodies. We take a left, around the next corner and proceed into a corridor. A sudden slamming sound echoes through. We look around as another of the walking dead shambles out of a standing coffin.

 

           Chie starts running through and in front of the group, yelling. “I got this!” She hurtles towards the lumbering, axe wielding undead creature.  She sends her foot flying at the creature, kicking the head off of the draugr. “These freaking shoes!” She yells. “This is awesome!”

 

           Yosuke pales. “Remember that rule about not kicking us anymore? That’s doubled now! Geez, Chie. We created a monster.”

 

           Yukiko shrugs. “I’m sure she’ll remember what she’s capable of.”

 

           Yosuke shudders. “That’s what I’m _afraid_ of, Yukiko.” He shook his head as we kept walking.

 

           But soon enough, we reached stairs and started walking up. To our left, we see another chest in a dark corner. I kneel down and unlatch the box and open it up. Inside, are a set of iron bracers, a bag of coins, and a dagger made of some golden looking metal.

 

           “Hey, Yu. Pass me that dagger.” Yosuke says, looking over my shoulder. I give him the dagger, placing the rest of the things inside my satchel.

 

           We continue treading through the corridor, heading to a hallway that consists of downward stairs. The lighting only got darker as we got closer to the end, at which stood a black door. Dunjar pushes open the door and walks through, the rest of us following. The only thing I could hear as we descend from another set of stairs is our footsteps and the distinct clacking sound of Yukiko’s staff on the stone floor. We look around the corner, and see instead of a wall, a giant opening leading to a vast cavern. I looks below and see a system of narrow, natural looking stone bridges that serve as the safe way down. The only catch is that I see more walking dead patrolling them. And the only way to get to them is from the next set of corridors and hallways to our left.

 

           Yukiko readies her staff. “I think I can hit them from here.” She says.

 

           Dunjar tugs on her shoulder. “We don’t want the entire place coming after us. I’ll handle them from here.” He reaches over his back and takes out a bow from the straps attatched from his armor. “As brutish as you kids I think I am, I am capable of _some_ finesse.” He takes an arrow from a quiver, and starts aiming for the one on the highest bridge. He pulls back the arrow and knocks it. He closes an eye and soon enough, he lets an arrow loose to silently pierce the draugr’s neck. It falls over and fails to get the attention of the others.

 

           I look to the left, and see the entrance to another corridor, I start to walk towards it before I feel a large hand clamped to my shoulder. “Hey. Let’s take the simple route.” He says. I look down to the narrow rock bride below us. A good twenty feet down. That is, if we don’t miss.

 

           Chie throws her hands up into the air. “Are you crazy?! That’s how you break a leg-“

 

           Dunjar cut her off. “If you don’t have rope. Be smarter than the terrain. Less bodies you have to fight.” He nods. He digs in his bag, and takes out a length of rope. He wraps it around one of the rocks held firmly onto the ground. He pulls on the rope to check the strength of the tether. “We’re good to go.” He says.

 

           Yosuke shrugs, and is the first one to grab onto the rope. He carefully slides down, using his legs to support himself on the wall. “This isn’t too hard!” He says. He lets go of the rope, and waves. “C’mon! It’s safe!” He yells.

 

           Yukiko simply stares at the rope. “I don’t think I’d do too well-.” And before she even finishes her sentence, the nord picks her up and hoists her onto his shoulder. “Hold on.” He simply said. He reaches to pick Chie up, but she smacks his hand away.

 

           “Leg strength is my thing.” She mutters.

 

           The nord shrugs, and grabs onto the rope. He slides down, his feet touching the wall every now and then before he lands. He sets the black haired girl down, and waves to us.

 

           Chie gives me a look. A quirked brow and scrunched nose tells me all I need about her thoughts on what just happened. He takes the rope and slides down. Finally, I take the rope and start rappelling towards the bridge. I land, while the rest of the group starts walking. Yosuke pulls me aside and whisper frantically. “Did you see what he did?! I think he’s trying to put the moves on Yukiko!”

 

           I shook my head, and whisper back. “Yosuke, think for a second. We’re in a world based on Viking-ish culture. I’m sure he was just being nice. Besides, I’m sure the nord men would want a woman who could keep up in a fist fight. Use your head.”

 

           Yosuke stares, his tense, panicked face slowly relaxes as the words sink in. “I guess, yeah. But he better be just being nice. He has to be like… thirty!”

 

           The nord barks from the front. “Twenty-five.”

 

           Yosuke squeaks, and widens his eyes.

 

           Chie shook her head. “Twenty-five? You look almost fourty.”

 

           Yukiko shrugs. “It’s the beard.”

 

           Dunjar laughs. “Well. My family does have a proud tradition of growing the best beards in Skyrim. I will take this as a compliment.”

 

           We reach a gate. It has three stones, lined up one in front of the other. The nord reaches the first stone, as it starts to glow. The gate opens, revealing a second gate.

 

           I cross my arms. “So. I’m guessing each stone opens up a gate when you get close to it.”

 

           Chie frowns. “But if three of us stand at the stone, only two of us gets to go on.”

 

           But as we were contemplating, a skeleton comes from stairs beside us. Yosuke throws one of his daggers, the head lopping off of the skeleton as the body comes crashing down. He fistpumps and smirks. “Yeah! Showin’ it how it’s done!”

 

           I nod. “Nice shot, Yosuke.”

 

           The nord looks to the gates. “It’s supposed to be a test for the Dragonborn. My whirlwind sprint shout is supposed to send me through these gates fast enough. But that’d leave you four here.”

 

           Yukiko blinks. “Would our Personas be able to activate them?”

 

           I blink. Oh yeah, I suppose our Personas would just fade off and return to us after we got to the other side. I concentrate my thoughts and summon my blue tarot card. I crush it with my hand. “Persona!” He shout, as Izanagi appears in front of me.

 

           Yosuke nods. “Yukiko! You’re a genius.” He summons his persona, along with Chie. Each Persona stands near the stones as all three gates open, revealing the other side.

 

           The nord rolls his eyes. “It seems the teenagers know how to cheat through nordic tests.”

 

           Chie laughs to herself and sticks her tongue out. “Hey. We’re just taking the simple route.”

 

           We walk through each gate, and as soon as the last person makes it to the other side, the gates shut from the personas disappearing. We come across a burning pyre, and move on the web-strewn room next. In there, two giant spiders awaken and start crawling towards us.

 

           Yukiko takes out her staff and starts launching fireballs like there’s no tomorrow. “NOPE. NOPE. THIS ISN’T A THING.” She squeals.

 

           Yosuke summons his Persona, crushing his tarot card and sending Jiraya to deal with the other spider. The Persona starts wailing on the creature. “SCREW THIS, MAN. ANYTHING BUT THIS.”

 

           And explosion or two later, both creatures lay charred and lifeless. Dunjar shakes his head and keeps walking. “They’re frostbite spiders. Not even the big ones.”

 

           We cross the next hallway and see one last gate, opened by a pull chain. Dunjar pulls the device as the iron bars rise up. In our presence, statues resembling dragons rise up from the water on both sides of the path. The room shakes, as it seems to be welcoming us itself. The entire room has a cool blue lighting to it, much different from the dingy browns and greys. We walk across the pathway, and reach a pedestal. Dunjar takes a piece of paper from it and starts reading.

 

           ”Dragonborn. I need to speak to you. Urgently. Rent the attic room at the Sleeping Giant Inn in River wood. I’ll meet you. A friend.”

 

           No horn in sight. “Someone took it!” He yells, throwing his hands down and grunting.

 

           A chorus of groans escape the four of us, punctuated by Yosuke. “This is a load of crap!” He yells.

 

           Dunjar sighs. “Well. We’ll have to meet up with this son of a bitch in order to get it. Until then, I need some damn mead.”

 

           I look  past the pedestal. “There’s a door over there. Looks like we have an exit.”

 

           “Hell yeah, no backtracking.” Yosuke mutters. We walk towards the door and open it. I look to the chest that’s in front of us. I kneel down and open the top of the chest. I take out a few gems, some gold piece, scale boots and an axe. I stuff them in my bags before getting up and following my group. We proceed through the rock tunnels, twisting and turning before we come across a dead end. Dunjar pulls a lever, as a section of the dead end rumbles. The rock pulls up to reveal a room, with a smaller chest and several large jars. I open it up and find a silver ring with a red gem, and several potions. I stuff them in my bag and move on.

 

           We exit the room, and see the rocky cave-like entrance we came from. We tread to the exit, opening the door. I look to the sky and see that a few hours had passed, and it was no longer morning. It was still cold, but less biting as I feel the constant bearing of the midday sun on me. It’s more of a blessing, at this point. We walk up the stairs of the bowl-shaped hole, and set foot on the salt marsh once more.

 

           As we walk back towards Morthal, the nord speaks up. “Yu. When we get back to town, go to the general store and sell the things we won’t need. After you’re done, buy some rations.”

 

           Yosuke snickers. “And that mead?” He asks, with a smirk.

 

           Dunjar rolls his eyes. “I said rations, yes?”

 

           Chie rolls her eyes. “Anyway. That wasn’t so hard. It was pretty fun.”

 

           The burly man strokes his beard. “It was made for one person to go through. Hence the challenge made for one person. I’m sure other ruins and caves will have us on our toes.”

 

           I shrug. “All that considered, we only used our Personas a few times. I’m sure we’ll be able to step up to whatever challenge we come up against.”

 

           Yukiko nods. “Besides, this isn’t the first time we’ve had to fight.”

 

           The nord shrugs, as we finally get back into town. “Just make sure it isn’t your last.” He shrugs, and heads towards one of the buildings. He looks to me, and points to one of the other buildings. “That’s the general shop. Have fun- and don’t try to barter with that one. He is very firm with his prices.”

 

           I nod, as I start walking towards the general store, the rest of my group following me. My mind drifts off, during the walk there. I stuff a hand into my pocket, letting my thoughts wander.

 

_This place is tough, but I think we can survive. I know we can._


	4. Chapter Four: The Harmless Innkeeper Act

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dragonborn and the Inaba gang travel to Riverwood to find out who took the horn.

_How long are we going to be trapped here?_

            My train of thought snaps as the carriage comes to a halt, the nord signaling for the four of us to get off. As I hop off of the vehicle of sorts, I look to the sky, the remnants of orange that remain are faint and quickly crawling away in order to make room for the night sky. Dunjar once again takes the lead, walking past the gates of the village we head towards. The brutish man waves a hand at the small town, looking to us. “Welcome to Riverwood. This was the first place I came to after I fled from Helgen and the dragon attack that had ensued.”

 

            I adjust the strap of my sheath, as the villagers once again give us awkward stares and questioning gazes. “I see. The person who took the horn is supposed to be here, yes?” We pass by several buildings, and the faint hum of conversations and sawmill providing the ambient noise. That, and Yosuke’s teeth chattering at the cold.

 

            The nord nods, and turns to his left, he looks up to the sign, and walks up the small steps that lead to the dock that held the building above the ground. He opens the door, holding it open so that we could all walk inside.

 

            The inn, from the look of the place, is warmly lit. Hues of orange, brown, and stony gray meshed to match the sudden shift in temperature to fit the atmosphere. A man playing a lute and singing a jaunt tune provided the new ambience. Yosuke lets out a sigh of relief. “Finally. It’s not so cold anymore. I was freezing my balls off, man.”

 

            Chie smacks him across the back of his head, Yosuke letting out a short groan. Dunjar rolls his eyes once more, and looks to the innkeeper, a modest looking woman. The bearded man gives a short smile before speaking. “I would like to rent the attic room.” He takes out a sack of coins, counting out ten and holding his palm out.

 

            The woman takes the money and responds in a deadpan tone. “We don’t have an attic room, but you’re free to take the room to the left.” She nods politely and walks towards the kitchen, patting the man she passes by behind the counter.

 

            Yukiko blinks, and tilts her head. “…The note said the attic room, right”

 

            Dunjar shrugs. “It did. But I suppose we will have to find out what that even meant, later.” He walks towards the room and opens the door, walking inside. The rest of us follow, and set down our weapons.

 

            Chie sits on the bed and crosses her arms. “What the hell is going on? Why would the person write for us to rent the attic room here if there wasn’t any? Is this like some sorta’ prank? ‘Cause it isn’t funny.”

 

            I shake my head. “It’s weird. Maybe that’s the clue that…” And we were cut off by another person entering the room.

 

            “So you’re the dragonborn I’ve been hearing so much about.” Says the female innkeeper. She’s standing at the doorway, eyeing Dunjar up and down. She then takes out a horn, and tosses it his way. “I think you’re looking for this.”

 

            Dunjar widens his eyes, catching the horn. “Wh… why would you go and take the horn?”

 

            She crosses her arms. “We need to talk. Follow me.” She turns and leaves the room, the nord man following her.

 

            Yosuke shoots his gaze to me, a brow quirked. “Okay…?” He shrugs, and trails the both of them. Yukiko, Chie, and I head to the room the rest enter and look to the two Skyrim natives.

 

            The woman looks to the four of us, and scowls. “I wasn’t expecting you to have a crowd of people following you around. I want this to be a private matter. I must ask the four of you to leave.”

 

            The four of us exchange looks among ourselves, and head outside of the room, closing the door. Yosuke shakes his head and throws his hands up into the air. “That’s a load of crap! Man, we had to deal with the zombies, too.”

 

            Chie lets out a small sigh. “I know that feeling. But we can’t exactly just tell her to screw off, either.” It was after Chie spoke, that we heard a faint rumbling sound.

 

            I blink. “What was that?” I ask, as I step to the door and press my ear to it. “I can’t even hear them anymore.”

 

            Yukiko blinks. “Maybe someone should check it out?”

 

            I shrug. “It’s worth a shot. Maybe something happened.” I slowly open the door quietly to peek inside. There’s no one in there! I slowly open the door, and see the dresser open with nothing inside. I look to the others.  “I’ll check it out. You guys stay here.” I walk inside, and make my way to the dresser. There’s an opening at the back, like there’s a wall panel that opened. I look inside and see steps that lead downward. I start to hear the conversation on the other side. I decide to keep quiet and stay where I am.

 

            “I’m not your enemy. I gave you the horn, I’m actually trying to help you. I just need you to hear me out.” The innkeeper says, though I could barely catch it from how softly she spoke.

 

            Dunjar gave a slight pause before speaking as well. “Go on, I am listening.” He was much easier to hear, thankfully.

 

            The woman speaks once more. “Like I said in my note, I heard you may be Dragonborn. I’m part of a group that’s been looking for you… well, someone like you, for a very long time.” She pauses. “That is, if you really are dragonborn. Before I tell you any more, I need to make sure I can trust you.”

 

The nordic man grunts. “Yes. But how I can I know to trust _you_?”

 

The innkeeper took another deadpan tone. “If you don’t trust me, you were a fool tome come down here int the first place.” Well. She has a point.

 

“Well, why did you take the horn from Ustengrav? He asks.

 

“I knew the Hreybeards would send you the if they thought you were dragonborn.” She pauses once more. “They’re nothing if not predictable. When you showed up here, I knew were the one the Greybeards sent, and not some Thalmor plant.”

 

The nord pauses for a moment. “…You said the Thalmor were after you?”

 

“Yes, we’re very old enemies. If my suspicions prove correct, they might have something to do with the dragons returning. But what’s important is that you may be dragonborn.”

 

The nord speaks once more. “And why are you looking for a dragonborn?”

 

The woman speaks in a slightly more audible tone, it seems even she’s getting more comfortable under the veil of privacy. “We remember what most don’t – that the dragonborn is the ultimate dragonslayer. You’re the only one who can permanently kill a dragon by devouring its soul. Can you? Can you devour a dragon’s soul?”

 

The nord speaks. “Aye. ‘Tis how I learned I was dragonborn.”

 

Whoa. That’s kind of freaky, knowing that this man can devour souls of things that fierce.

 

“Good.” The innkeeper starts. “You’ll have the chance to prove it soon enough.”

 

The nord pauses, for a while. “…So. What’s the part you aren’t telling me?”

 

The woman softly replies. “The dragons aren’t coming back. They’re coming back to life. They weren’t gone somewhere for all these years. They were dead, killed years ago by my predecessors. Now something’s happening to bring them back to life, I need you to help me stop it”

 

The bearish man snorts. “Do you know how crazy you sound?”

 

“I once said that myself to an old colleague of mine. And now he was right, and I was not.” She says.

 

“So. What makes you think they’re actually coming back to life? Any proof?” Dunjar asks.

 

“I know they are. I’ve visited their ancient burial mounds and found them empty.” She answers. “And I’ve figured out where the next one’s going to be.”

 

So she really is serious, these things are just coming back to life for some reason. Though, I shouldn’t be too shocked. It’s a game, and people wrote this.

 

She starts again. “We’re going to go there, and you’re going to kill that dragon. If we succeed, I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

 

Dunjar lets out a hearty laugh. “So! Where’re we going? It’s been a few days since my last dragon kill, and I’ve been itching for another.”

 

“Kynesgrove. There’s an ancient dragon burial mound near there. If we get there before it happens, maybe we’ll learn how to stop it.” She replies.

 

“Let’s get going, then. I can’t wait.” The nord says. Wait.

 

Crap. I need to go. NOW. I quickly walk as silently as I can towards the open door, slinking around it and closing it, turning the knob before it reaches the hinge for a silent contact. I lean against the wall and sigh in relief. “Well. That was a close one.” I say.

 

Chie blinks. “How much did you get?” She asks. The others lean in and look to me expectantly.

 

“All of it. But they’re on their way back here so I can’t exactly say what right-.” The door opens, the nord and innkeeper emerging from the room, quickly cutting me off.

 

Yosuke gives a short wave. “How’d the uh… meeting go?” He asks.

 

Dunjar shrugs. “We have our next mission. We’re going to our next dragon.” The woman walks towards the exit.

 

But as the woman passes the person behind the counter, she looks to the man in regular looking clothes and says. “ I’m going out. The inn is yours.”

 

The new innkeeper nods. “Right, then. Happy trails.”

 

She then looks to the dragonborn. “The five of you are welcomed to rest, here. I suggest you do so, and meet me at Kynsegrove. If the dragonborn is going to have his entourage, I don’t want them being a hindrance by being weary. Name’s Delphine, by the way.”

 

The bearded man groans. “Bah. I suppose she is right. Dragons are not something to face with heavy eyelids. Dunjar is my name, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

 

I bow my head politely. “Yu Narukami.”

 

“Chie Satonaka.”

 

“Yosuke Hanamura.”

 

“Yukiko Amagi. It’s very nice to meet you!”

 

Delphine nods. “Likewise. I will travel to Kynesgrove. Meet me there tomorrow afternoon.” She walks out the door, and closes the door behind her.

 

            Dunjar shrugs, and walks to the inn room that he had rented earlier. “Well. You all can go and get some food. Just bring me back some mead and maybe a roasted rabbit’s leg.”

 

            Yukiko _frowned_ at the mention of eating a rabbit. The four of us walk up to the counter, Yosuke resting his arms on the tabletop. He taps his chin and looks at the selection of foods.

 

            The man behind the counter stares at us, and crosses his arms. “What’ll you have?” He asks gruffly.

 

            Yosuke shrugs. “Just get me some of the spiced beef. You guys want any?”

 

I shrug. “Sure.” He takes money from a pouch in his pocket and lays out the gold coins.

 

Chie slams coins on the bartop. “Mammoth steak.” She grins. “That sounds pretty good.”

 

The man strokes his chin. “Well. Someone has coin to spend. Not often I get people here ordering the exotic stuff. You’re lucky we still have any.”

 

Yukiko sets a few of her coins down, as well. “Just some fish.” He smiles, and bows her head.

 

The cook nods, and takes the coins from the counter. He turns and heads to his cooking area to prepare our food. Yosuke leans on the bartop and looks to the three of us. “Y’know. For a Viking fantasy world, the food here isn’t half bad.”

 

Yukiko nods. “It certainly isn’t the things I prepare at the Inn, but I guess these people have to get strong with something rather substantive in their stomachs.”

 

Chie nods, and sticks her hands in the pockets of her sweater. “Yeah. They really know how to kill an animal and make a mean steak out of it.”

 

I shrug. “I’m just glad we somehow managed to get this far. We may have faced the TV World, but this world seems to suck to just live in. Dragons coming back to life-.”

 

Yosuke interrupts me. “Whoa. WHOA. They’re coming back to life?! Is that one of the things they didn’t want us to hear?”

 

I nod, looking to the kitchen briefly, before turning back to Yosuke. “So. We’re not just facing dragons. We’re facing _zombie_ dragons. That’s… that’s kind of messed up.”

 

Chie rolls her eyes at Yosuke. “Oh, c’mon. I’m pretty sure that’s not how zombies work. You’re just overreacting, like usual.”

 

The cook comes back, with our meals. I take out a few coins and hold out my palm. “A bottle of mead.”

 

The man nods, and takes the coins. “Hm. Figured you lot to be a bunch of milk-drinkers. But it’s nice to see one of you appreciates a good mead.”

 

The four of us give quizzical stares and quirked brows, but ultimately we shrug off the thought given to us by the innkeeper. He places the bottle down, next to the plates. We pick up our respective meals and head towards the room. I open the door and walk inside, placing the bottle next to the bed, which Dunjar was sitting on. “Thank ya’.” He says, as he opens the bottle and starts taking swigs.

 

 

I nod, and sit back against the dresser, putting the plate on my lap. Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko find their places on the floor and start eating their meals. I look up to the dragonborn and take a bite out of my beef, chewing and swallowing before speaking.  “So how long have you known you were dragonborn?” I ask.

 

The nord shrugs, and takes another gulp of his mead. “Not that long, a week or two now. Can’t say it’s changed my habits, much. I’ve always been making my living as a warrior, all this has done is directed my skills towards some sort of cause that’s supposedly greater than this world.”

 

Chie stops tearing into her steak for a moment, and looks up. “What do you mean? What’ve you been fighting before this whole dragons thing happened?”

 

The bearded man lies back, and shrugs. “Made my living as a soldier, in Windhelm. The Stormcloaks, we’re called. We seek to drive the imperials from the land, making sure the native inhabitants aren’t stomped out by the imperials who only see our land as a means to an end.”

 

I blink, continuing to eat my food as Yosuke perks up with a question. “So wait, you guys are really going to try and go through with this civil war thing?”

 

“Well, of course.” The nord begins. “The only way you show a mighty power any sort of discontent, you have to raise your blade. Any force that can easily pwer its way through an obstacle will take that route, regardless if you try to throw your words, your papers, your ink, and your quills at it. The Sons of Skyrim will show the Imperial forces that the only way they’ll take our land away, is to tread over our lifeless bodies.”

 

The room was silent for a moment, before Yosuke shrugs and speaks once more. “It makes sense, I guess. It’d suck if some bully tried to come to my house and tell me that they owned it, now.”

 

Dunjar smiles just slightly under his bushy mustache, before taking another few swigs of his mead. “I’m glad you understand. Though, what I don’t understand is where you kids are from.”

 

I blink. Explaining this will be difficult, especially since trying to explain that someone you’re talking to is a fictional character in a world someone made up. “Well. We’re from another world. We’re not sure how we got here, but we do know that we’re going to try and find a way out.”

 

He nods, and sets his bottle down. The hollow clink that resonated hinting at its emptiness. “So here’s the more important question. Why did you guys stick around? You have your money, your means of combat, and enough experience in this world to make sure you don’t die. But you still seem to be following along. No offense, of course.”

 

Yosuke shrugs. “Well. You’re a part of some big, badass destiny that calls upon the gods and stuff. I’m sure if we stick around, we’ll find out why we’re here, too.”

 

I tilt my head, and take another bite of my beef. Well, it was a better explanation than I had.

 

Yukiko nods. “Indeed. Besides, it has not been an unpleasant experience traveling with you, so far.”

 

The burly man stifles a chuckle. “Well.  At least I know I am given the highest honor of ‘not unpleasant’. But I do wonder if that makes it worth the dragon that we’ll be willingly visiting the corpse of.”

 

Chie shrugs. “Well. It’s better to face them with the guy who apparently is supposed to be some badass dragon slayer.” She stuck her tongue out, and set her plate on the dresser, empty.

 

I give a short nod. “Not to mention the fact that while we can fight, you’re the only person here who knows anything about where to go.”

 

The bearded man quirks a brow. “Thanks.” His eyelids start to droop downwards, and the man’s breathing becomes slower. “Until then, good night. We’ll need to be rested for the journey over to Kynesgrove.”

 

“Good night.” I say, as I start to take a more relaxed position against the dresser.

 

Yosuke curls into a ball, and closes his eyes. “Night, guys.”

 

Chie leans back against the door, and starts to drift, off into sleep as well. “See ya’ in the morning.”

 

Yukiko spreads out across the ground and lets her eyes close. “Good night.” She mutters softly.

 

My eyelids start to drop, the weight finally becoming apparently as I yawn quietly. Hopefully at some point Teddie will come home, but we still don’t know just how long a day is here, compared to home. We’ll either have to wait this out, or find our own way home. Maybe a long the way, we’ll find clues as to how this all happened.

 

_Hopefully soon, we’ll reach out to the truth once more._


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The investigation team, Dunjar, and Delphine find out what's up at the dragon burial mounds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to try having Yosuke as the narrator for once, see what his voice would do for the text. Just a fun experiment.

_We’ve been walking for hoouurs._

 

            “Yosuke, look a bit more alive, will ya’?” Chie teases, causing me to snap from my zombie-like trance and once again pay attention to things. I take step after step on the dirt and stone path, looking at my surroundings once more. Y’know, I noticed when I’m bored to tears I actually start to see how pretty this place is. The sky is clear, and while the moderate amount of trees and bushes around me are green, the grass is a dark brown. The air, while still as cold as always, at least rushed past my nose with ease and smelled of pine.

 

             After this, maybe we could all go camping again. I stare off into the distance to look at the far off mountains, their peaks surrounded by a light mist. The dragonborn, though, decides it would nice to sharped his weapon with some kind of rock. The metallic sound repeating in a pattern over and over and over AND OVER AND OVER AND-.

 

             Maybe I should find something new to focus on. I take out one of my daggers and a cloth. I take a vial with my free hand and pour the liquid on the blade. I wipe the weapon down, coating it evenly. I take the other dagger as Yu starts to talk. “How far are we from Kynesgrove?” He asks.

 

             I drizzle the liquid onto the weapon and start wiping it down once more. The nord responds. “Shouldn’t be too far, now. Just be prepared for a fight, just in case Delphine is right.”

 

             Yukiko once again uses her staff as a walking stick, looking it over curiously. “Yosuke, is there some sort of limit to these staves? I can’t see this thing being limitless, and I hope I don’t run out of power in the middle of a fight.”

 

             I blink. “Yeah. I think they have a certain amount of magic to them. Though, I know they can refill when you enchant them with a soul gem.” I shrug, and place the dagger back into its sheath. “Besides, even if it runs out of juice during the fight, you still have your Persona.” I stuff the cloth back into a pouch I put onto my belt.

 

             Yukiko nods. “I suppose so. We will have to find one of those gems at our next supply runs.”

 

             Yu digs in his backpack and takes out a dagger in a sheath. He hands it to Chie. “I’ve been meaning to hand this to you. While your kicking is a good technique, you’ll be need a sidearm just in case that isn’t an option. He takes a second one and tosses it towards Yukiko. “You, too. We can never be too careful, here. I know you’re fine, Yosuke. We all have health potions, right?”

 

             I snicker to myself. “Okay, mom.” I blink, and take a look around me once more. Other than Yu rolling his eyes, I see the entire place starting to look greyer. I see clouds gathering above, and snowflakes falling. The entire group start to look around, except for Dunjar. He looks to a lodge nearby, and start walking towards it. “Here’s Kynesgrove. Let’s hurry, I’m sure this isn’t a coincidence.” We all head towards it in a light job, the nord drawing his weapons out.

 

             From the lodge, a woman runs out of the door and looks to us. “No, you don’t want to go up there! A dragon… it’s attacking!” She yells.

 

             Dunjar shook his head. “Here?” He blinks.

 

            The woman shook her head. It hasn’t attacked yet, but it circled around. It’s headed for that old burial mound!”

 

             Chie widens her eyes. “Crap! We need to get up there, now! Before there’s two of them!” We all start sprinting up the hill, as Delphine comes from behind.

 

             “Hurry, we might be too late.” The former innkeeper says. I look up, and see the outline of a dragon flapping its wings in the air.

 

             We reach a crater-like indention in the ground, glowing brightly with an aura. “Crap.” I mutter, drawing my daggers. A booming voice from above starts to yell.

 

             “Sahloknir! Ziil gro dovah ulse! Slen Tiid Vo!” The shockwave that results staggers us all, as the crater starts rumbling. Rocks start cracking, rising, and shifting out of the way. A skeletal dragon starts crawling out of the ground, its fram starting to glow, skin and scale starting to envelop its form.

 

             Crap, we really got ourselves up shit creek this time. The zombie-dragon looks up to the one in the air and talks. "Alduin, thuri! Boaan tiid vokriiha suleyksejun kruziik?" It says in its weird language.

 

             "Geh, Sahloknir, kaali mir." The bigger dragon replies. We all unsheathe our weapons, as the dragonborn approaches the big-ass lizard on the ground. The dragon in the air speaks again, "Ful, losei Dovahkiin? Zu'u koraav nid nol dov do hi." But this time, it was in Dunjar’s direction.

 

             After a few seconds, it laughs and starts speaking in English. "You do not even know our tongue, do you? Such arrogance, to dare take for yourself the name of Dovah." As he flies away, he speaks one last time. "Sahloknir, krii daar joorre."

 

            The lesser dragon charges towards us, as Dunjar thrusts his blades forward. The dragon clamps down on to the blades in his mouth, the nord holding his ground. The rest of us charge in, weapons swinging. I get one good stab in before the dragon starts to inhale. Whoa. Whoa whoa whoa! I summon my tarot card, and shatter it with my dagger. “Jiraiya!” I shout, as my Persona appears behind me. I slash at the dragon twice more, before concentrating my power and shouting. “Garudyne!” A large gust of wind comes from my Persona, blowing the dragon sideways, the lizard losing grip of the swords and letting go of the Skyrim native.

 

             I look to Yu, and ready my daggers. “Yu! Should we show’em who’s boss?” He nods. While the dragon’s down, the four of us charge and start wailing on the dragon.

 

             Yu starts slashing and cutting deep into the dragon’s sternum, while I focus on stabbing the underbelly, Chie starts to stomping and kicking the dragon’s back with her spiked shoes. Meanwhile, Yukiko is letting loose a stream of firebolts at the lizard’s head. After a few seconds, the nord gets up just in time for all of to be blown back by gusts of wind produced by the dragon’s wings. It flips over and launches into the air, soaring in the sky and circling us.

 

             Dunjar’s the first to get up, and sheathes his swords and takes the bow from his back. He closes an eye and takes an arrow from his quiver. He aims, and waits for the dragon to stay still. Delphine does much of the same, only she lets an arrow go and hit the dragon in the gut. Yukiko readies her staff and starts shooting more bolts of fire. Only one manages to hit the dragon, the beast pausing briefly. Dunjar takes advantage and lets the arrow loose, the projectile hitting the dragon in the eye. It screams in pain. But it still soars in circles around us. Yukiko’s firebolts suddenly stop, as she shakes her staff, expecting something to come out.

 

             The dragon takes another deep breath, as fire starts to come from the sky, the stream following Dunjar. I could feel the heat from meters away. The nord runs, and tries to swerve to avoid the breath. Yu summon his tarot card, and crushes it in the palm of his hand while yelling. “Izanagi! Ziodyne!” His Persona appears behind him and casts the spell. Lightning hits the dragon, the stream ending when its concentration ends. Though, it seems the nord was caught just as it ended, the brutish warrior flais in order to try and put it out.

 

             I widen my eyes, and crush my tarot card once more, as Yukiko does the same. I yell out, “Dia!” as Yukiko follows with “Diarama!”

 

             Healing energy surrounds the hairy man, the fire fading away and skin starting to look normal. He stands up and clutches his swords. “GET THE BASTARD DOWN HERE!” He barks, teeth clenched, face twisted in anger and eyes gone wild. He looks a little pissed.

 

            Chie crushes her tarot card with a kick, yelling, “Tomoe Gozen!” The yellow jumpsuited Persona leaps up and then elbows the dragon’s back, driving the halberd into the dragon as it crashed to the ground. The nord rushes the downed beast, and drives his swords into the lizard’s skull. The creature stops lashing, finally taking its final rest.

 

             Freakin’ finally. That was hell.

 

             The dragon starts to glow, once more. Its skin starts to turn into golden winds that flow into the dragonborn. He takes a deep breath, and wipes his forehead. “Thank you, Yosuke and Yukiko. Not sure if I would have been able to fight if it weren’t for that spell.”

 

             I shrug. “Of course. I mean, it’s what we do for friends.”

 

             The nord blankly stares. “A few days fightin’ things and you consider me a friend. Odd bunch.”

 

             Delphine approaches us, and crosses her arms. “We can discuss such matters later. I suppose I owe you an explanation, and your entourage as well. Considering the fact they decided to come along and help as well, I can’t just kick them out.”

 

             Yu nods. “Besides. It’ll help to not be in the dark when we’re going up against the next thing.”

 

             She looks to the bearded man. “So. What do you want to know?”

 

             Dunjar sheathes his blades, and looks up. “Who are you and what do you want with me?” He asks.

 

             “I am one of the very last members of the Blades. A very long time ago, the Blades were dragonslayers, and we served the dragonborn, the greatest dragonslayer. For the last two hundred years, since the last dragonborn emperor, the Blades been searching for a purpose.” She pauses, and uncrosses her arms. “Now that the dragons are coming back, our purpose is clear. We must stop them.”

 

             The nord shook his head. “And what do you know about the dragons coming back?”

 

             She lets out a small sigh. “Not a damn thing. I was just as surprised as you to find that big black dragon here.”

 

             The brute blinks. “Wait. I’ve seen that dragon before, the one that got away.”

 

             She blinks, and steps forward. “Really? Where?”

 

             The nord nods. “It was the one at Helgen, when Ulfric Stormcloak escaped.”

 

             She grits her teeth, and scrunches her nose. “Damnit! We’re blundering around in the dark. We need to find out who’s behind all of this.”

 

             The Skyrim native straps his bow against his back, fixing his quiver. “Well. What’s our next move, Delphine?”

 

             She rubs her head. “The Thalmor. If they aren’t the ones causing this, they’ll know. The key is getting into the Thalmor Embassy. It’s their headquarters in Skyrim. But it’s locked tighter than a miser’s purse. They could teach me a thing or two about paranoia.”

 

             I scratch the back of my head. “So how do we get in?”

 

             Delphine shook her head. “We only have two invitations. I have ideas, but I’ll need a bit to string them together. Meet me back in Riverwood, and if I’m not there when you get there, just wait. I won’t be long.”

 

             The nord gives the woman a part on the shoulder. “Alright. I will see you there.”

 

             The Blades member nods, and turns to leave, “Keep your eyes to the skies. This is only going to get worse.”

 

             When the woman leaves, Dunjar looks to us. “We’ll be taking a trip to High Hrothgar, to return the Horn. I suggest you four find warmer clothing when we stop by Kynesgrove. This will be at the peak of a snowy mountain, and the climate will not be forgiving.”

 

             Chie blinks. “I guess, yeah. I mean, any colder and I’m pretty sure I’d freeze to death.”

 

             The nord turns and starts to walk while taking out his map from his bags, we all start to follow alongside him.  Yu comes up to me and starts to speak. “Yosuke. When we get to Kynesgrove, I’ll handle getting us warmer clothing. I trust you can handle getting the other supplies. You just need to get food, poison, and whatever a soul gem is.” He takes a pouch and starts filling coins up with it from his own coin purse. “If those soul gem things are too expensive, come find me.”

 

             I nod, and take the pouch. “Thanks, man. I got’cha. Make sure my thing’s got a lotta’ fur. Mountain peaks are kind of cold as hell.”

 

             He laughs to himself. “I don’t doubt it. Those gems went for a lot of money. I might just get us a full set of that hide armor. Besides, it’s not like we need to think for much longer than a week or so.”

 

             I shrug. “It can’t be much longer than that. I’d give it a few more days.”

 

             We reach Kynesgrove, and I look up into the sky. It’s no longer cloudy, and snow stopped falling around us. Yu stops by a person at a campfire, with a tanning rack. Dunjar walks somewhere, I guess, because when I walk into the large lodge that stood at the center of the place, he didn’t follow. But Chie and Yukiko walk inside behind me.

 

             Chie takes out her own pouch, and sets it on the bartop. “Two bags of jerky!” She says. The tavernkeep nods, and turns to go to the kitchen. Yukiko takes out her pouch as well, and sorts out a number of coins.

 

             The tavernkeep comes back and sets the bags in front of Chie. Yukiko orders next. “A loaf of bread, a few strips of jerky, and some fish.” She smiles, and sets her coins down.

 

             I shudder. Fish. They’re a gross creature and a gross food to eat. I’m not sure how anyone can stand them. I place my coins on the table. “Two bags of jerky and a loaf of bread. By the way, you know where I can get a soul gem?”

 

             The tavernkeep nods, and talks as he heads to the kitchen. “You’re lucky I have one. Hopefully you have the coin for one.”

 

             I take out my pouch, and set it down. “How much would it be?” I ask.

 

             The tavern keep sets our food down in front of us. “Well. It’s one-hundred fifty septims.”

 

             I widen my eyes. “Geez. Alright, I suppose that’s fair.” I fish out and _count_ all of those coins out on the table. The guy behind the counter digs and rummages below the counter, and sets the soul gem down. I take it and stuff it in my pocket. I feel for how many coins I have left, and I have about twenty. Balls.

 

             “I’ll take a bottle of mead, too.” I say as I place the coins I have left on the table. I’m left with one coin as I pack the stuff I did get into my bag, handing the gem to Yukiko. “Chie, Yukiko, ask Dunjar how you recharge stuff with this. I’ll check on Yu.”

 

             We turn to walk towards the exit; I brace myself for the cold once more and open the door. I head to Yu aheft my bag. “So. How’d the armor business go?” I ask, as Chie and Yukiko walk off to find our guide.

 

             My partner throws me a set of leather armor. “Put this on. I trust you got the supplies?” He asks.

 

             I start strapping the armor on over my clothes, buckling and tying and _man_ this is complicated. They really don’t want me getting out of this on accident.  “Yeah, I got the food we’ll need, and Dunjar’s mead. I didn’t have enough money for more potions or poisons. But Yukiko has the soul gem… thing.” I say, arms flailing behind me to strap the stuff behind me on the chest piece. Though, it does feel nice to have extra layers, and the fur is a nice touch. It actually feels bearable to exist outside. I finish by kicking off my shoes and strapping the boots on, and then fixing the bags and pouches on my belt.

 

             Yu had also been putting the armor on, but looks to me after I finished talking. “That’s fine. You have enough poison for one trip, and we have a potion per person. Besides, Dia spells are good for that, too.” We walk in the direction the other three had been going, for us to find a carriage that Chie, Yukiko, and Dunjar have been sitting in.

 

             “C’mon.” The nord starts. “I found a passing carriage and told him to hold long enough for our group. Luckily he’ll be passing through Ivarstead, which is where the path starts for High Hrothgar.”

 

             Yu and I climb in, the three of them scooting over and making room for us. I lean against the railing, letting my legs stretch horizontally across the floor. Yukiko and Chie take their respective sets of and (regrettably) follow my example and begin putting it on over their clothes.

 

             I close my eyes and get myself a nap in, before we head to this mountain.

 

 

 

_Besides, I need rest after a damn dragon battle._

 

 

            And of course, the nap always feels far too short. I’m tugged awake, only to open my eyes to- oh god that’s A SPIKED FOOT NO.

 

             I make a very unmanly squeak that I hope no one heard, and tumble off of the carriage (which totally would have been a backflip if I was prepared). I land on my back, and roll over to my stomach to push myself up. I glare at Chie, and yell, “What the hell was that for?! That’s messed up!”

 

             Chie and Yukiko laugh at my expense, and hop off of the carriage. Jerks. Yu and Dunjar once again take the lead, heading towards a bridge in front of us. I look up to the sky, as we walk, seeing that the sun was starting to head towards the horizon. It’s still clearly daytime, but it’s heading towards the evening. As I cross the bridge, I over hear, “Heading up the seven-thousand steps, Glimmek?” I blink, and gulp. Seven _thousand_ steps? You kidding?

 

             I mean, I knew it was long when I played the game but… All I had to do was push the control stick upward. But alas, we head upwards. The trail leads to steps. Steps on steps upon steps oh my god LOOK AT ALL THOSE-.

 

             Relax, Yosuke. They’re just steps. They can’t hurt you. I adjust the sheaths on my daggers as I look around, seeing Yukiko using her staff as support walking upwards. And then I hear a howl. A goddamn howl near us. This is fantastic. Soon after, a wolf lunges from the side towards Yu. He takes a few steps back and takes his sword out, but by then the nord had already jammed his swords into the wolf’s throat.

 

             Dunjar snorts. “That’s why I always have my weapons out. Anything can come up to you and start chomping down. I remember fighting an ice troll here. A bitch of a fight.”

 

             I stare blankly at the corpse before continuing on as usual. Man, I remember that. Hopefully they don’t respawn because that’s scary stuff.

 

             We pass by a man who’s just staring at some altar thing, as we reach steps that seem to be covered in snow. He looks to us and says as we pass, “Be sure to look out for wolves if you’re on the path to High Hrothgar.”

 

             Oh, _really_? Thanks, guy. So much help.

 

             We walk for what seems like a damn hour, the sky lightly splashed with orange as the sun slowly reaches the horizon. We take step after step after step after STEP AFTER STEP AFTER USELESS WARNING FROM ANOTHER GUY.

 

             Whoops. Everything became red for a second. Yukiko looks to me. “You alright, Yosuke? You seem like a zombie.”

 

             Dunjar rolls his eyes. “If he keeps doing that, something he won’t see coming will smack him off of the mountain.”

 

             I stuck my tongue out, and shook my head. “I’m fine. It’s just the cold.” By the way, it’s cold as balls. I mean, mountains are cold but this is _really_ cold. After infinity times five steps, we come near a cave. This is where I found that frost troll, in the game. It seems both Dunjar and I cautiously creep around the area and look around for the worst thing since dragons. The frost troll, destroyer of health potions and reaper of every player ever.

 

             Chie tugged my shoulder, and quirks a brow. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

 

             I shudder. “Trust me. I wish it was a ghost I was dreading.” I shook my head, as we finally find more steps (I never thought I would want steps this badly.) away from the cave. “…And it seems it doesn’t respawn, because the universe wants to give me a break.”

 

             After thirty more minutes of uneventful walking, I finally see a fortress. High Hrothgar, as I remember. We head up the last of the steps, and open the door. The first thing that hits me is the warmth that I had been craving since I left the tavern in Kynesgrove. The old men in robes look to Dunjar, as the dragonborn takes the horn from his belt. “I return with the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller.” He gruffly states.

 

             One of them takes the horn, and bows his head. “Master Wulfgar will teach to you the final word, of your Unrelenting Force shout. It will be useful to you in your adventures.” And the old man that was specified walks up to Dunjar, and glowing winds come from him and into the brutish warrior. “You have completed your training. We will speak to you, now.” The first one says.

 

             And that’s when it happened. Before the four of us could speak – BAM WHOA THE LOUDEST SHOUTING I’VE HEARD IN MY LIFE OH MY GOD THIS IS TERRIBLE THE GROUND WON’T STOP AND HOW DO YOU PEOPLE DEAL WITH THIS ASININE BULLSH-.

 

             The world stops being fuzzy, the sounds stop pounding into me, and the ground stops shaking. I find myself in a fetal position on the ground with my ears covered. The other three seems to be in similar positions, as Dunjar turns to looks at us. “…Look, I know that was loud. But you four seems to be overreacting.”

 

             …I never wanted to punch someone more. The elder who spoke before starts to speak once again. “Dovahkiin, you have tasted the Voice of the Greybeards, and you have passed through unscathed. High Hrothgar is open to you.” The ancient fossil looks to us four, and shook his head. “Perhaps I should have warned you. But considering you have survived and kept your hearing says something about your strength. I commend you on surviving, but I am not sure why you are here.”

 

             Yu slowly pushed himself up and stands. “We’re here to help Dunjar. We did not expect all of… that, though.”

 

             “Of course,” The Greybeard starts, “We will forgive your unexpected intrusion if you will forgive our onslaught.”

 

             Chie shrugs. “It’s fine, I guess. We’ll live.”

 

             Dunjar pats Yu on the shoulder. “Come. We have someone we shouldn’t be keeping waiting any longer.”

 

             We follow, as I turn my head to give a polite nod. Of course, as we step outside, that precious warmth fades away. The cold, biting winds come back to chew on my ass. I look down, tilting my head. “Huh. I forgot, we can’t just take a carriage down.”

 

             The nord rolls his eyes. “It’s a mountain.”

 

             I widen my eyes, and rub the side of my head.

 

 

 

_Steps, my archenemy, we meet once more._


	6. Chapter Six: Diplomacy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Has the gang found a way out? Has this mystery been put on hold, or will circumstances force them to see this thing through?

_Well, at least we can feel included._

            Unlike the last time we went to the Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood, the five of us make our way down the hidden door behind the dresser of Delphine’s room, each step creating a short echo through the downward stairway.

 

            Dunjar’s the first to enter the stony basement, resting his arms on the table in the middle of the room. On the other side of it Delphine stands, and quirks a brow. “Took you long enough. Didn’t think it’d take you all night to do so, but you’re at least here. I have our way into the Thalmor Embassy. I have a contact there, Malborn. He’s a Wood Elf, so you have every reason to trust him.”

 

            Dunjar stands up straight and nods. “Alright. You’ll be with me, yes?”

 

            The Blades member shook her head. “No. I would draw too much attention. But they have no idea who you are. Just meet Malborn in the city of Solitude. Go to the Winking Skeever tavern, and he’ll be able to get you in. Any questions, dragonborn?”

 

            The nord shook his head. “No. I’ll see you in Solitude.”

 

            Delphine nods, but holds up a hand to the four of us. “By the way, it turns out I only have one invitation. The four of you will have to simply wait this one out.”

 

            Yosuke blinks. “Yeesh. Anything we can do, while that’s going on?”

 

            The former innkeeper shrugs. “You’re not bound by a leash. I suppose you can find your own things to do, in the meantime.”

 

            I pat the sack of coins in my bag. “We have enough money for one or two days.” I say.

 

            Yukiko scratches the back of her neck. “A break does sound nice. It’s been four or five days of traveling or fighting.”

 

            Dunjar turns to leave, along with Delphine. “Well.” The bearish warrior says, “I wish you well, until next time we meet.”

 

            They head up the stairs, as we look to each other. “What’s all this mean, then?” Yosuke asks.

 

 

            I shrug, and start heading up the stairs. “Whatever we want it to, really.” I say. The others follow me shortly. Yosuke and Chie push the secret door closed, and close the dresser itself. I head into the inn room we rented as we first came here, and sit on the bed. “Though, it’s nice to get a little rest. It’s tough just surviving out here. Especially with all this armor on.”

 

            Chie leans against the wall, and crosses her arms. “And we just have the leather stuff, too. I mean, these people put metal on every day.”

 

            Yosuke shudders. “That’s awful. That shit has to be heavy, seriously.”

 

            But before anyone else could reply, something busts through the door. We all turn to see that it’s-.

 

            It’s Teddie. It seems he got off work and noticed we were gone. He shrieks and bounces up and down. “I found you! I came home and noticed Yosuke’s game was still on with no one around. And then I saw you people on the screen!”

 

            We all stand up straight and gather around Teddie. Yosuke fist pumps and grins. “We have our way out! Let’s see those exit TVs, because _man_ I’m tired of the cold!”

 

            Teddie raises a paw. “…But wait. Why is the TV World Yosuke’s video game? That’s really weird.”

 

            I scratch my head. I hadn’t really thought of why, just that it happened. All of my thoughts had been towards survival from day one. “That’s a really good question. But we can investigate that after we’re not here.”

 

            Teddie nods. “By the way, you all have really weird clothes.” He throws the four exit TVs from out of nowhere, and sets them down. I look to the desk, and see a pen and inkwell.

 

“I’m going to leave Dunjar a note, just so he knows.” I say, as I take the pen from the well and start writing.

 

**Dunjar, we’ve found our way back to our world. There’s no need to look for us, and we’ll be investigating why this happening.  –Yu Narukami.**

I set the paper down and head for the exit TV, seeing that the others had already taken their exit. I dive in, as my vision fades for a short moment.

 

_I’m sure this isn’t the end of what’s going on._

 

My vision comes back, and I’m in Yosuke’s room. The first thing I hear is, “Hey, he’s out! Turn everything off!” from Chie. Yosuke scrambles and turns off the Xbox, takes the disc from the system, unplugs the system, and unplugs the TV. He falls back and starts panting.

 

“Okay. Now that we can never have that happen again, I’m just going to say… everything smelled, it was really cold, and I liked it better when everyone wasn’t trying to kill me for real.” Yosuke says, as he shakes his head.

 

Yukiko tugs at her armor. “And maybe we can get all of this off, too. And a shower. That’s nice, too.”

 

Teddie pinches his nose with his paw. “Yeah! You guys reek! You guys haven’t even been gone for that long. It’s only been a few hours.”

 

Chie sighs. “Yeah… but that game’s time goes faster. We’ve been in there for four days.”

 

Teddie flails. “Whoa! You guys gotta’ tell me some stories, later!”

 

Suddenly, Yosuke’s cell phone starts to ring. As I briefly marvel at the sheer battery life this thing has, I move to answer it seeing that Yosuke’s on the other side of the room. On the line is Naoto, “Yosuke!”

 

Yosuke bolts to me, yelling, “What the hell are you doing?!”

 

I speak to Naoto anyway. “Naoto?”

 

Everyone freezes. “Whoa.” Chie starts. “What’s Naoto need?”

 

Naoto speaks. “Yu? You’ll work too. We need you to gather the rest of the team and meet me at Junes! I have Rise and Kanji, it’s an emergency, so come quick!”

 

I blink. “We’ll be there.” I say, before Naoto hangs up. I turn to face the rest of the group. “We need to head to Junes. Naoto says it’s an emergency.”

 

Yosuke frowns, and rubs his face. “I don’t like the sound of this. Nothing’s a coincidence in this town. Nothing ever is.”

 

We all rush out of Yosuke’s room, and start navigating through the house and bolting out of the exit. Yosuke closes the door, and then we start running through the neighborhood. I feel exhausted, but I still keep putting one foot in front of the other. I don’t know what’s going on, but I know this is more important than resting.

 

After a ten minutes of running, we finally see Junes in the distance. Though, there’s something wrong. I see smoke in the distance. Yosuke says something in between pants. “Good thing we kept our armor on!”

 

We finally reach Junes, to see something burst through the roof. We all stop and look up to see a dragon flying right towards us! We scramble out of the way as it lands where we were standing. It seems people have already cleared the place, as there’s no one in our way.

 

Chie sprints up to the dragon and starts stomping and kicking the dragon’s side with her spiked boots, taking her sidearm dagger out and stabbing its hide once. Yukiko had already started her barrage of firebolts, each successful hit getting recoil from the dragon.

 

Yosuke and I charge the winged beat, I give a few slow, methodical slashes. Each motion I take I give all my strength, while Yosuke settles for quickly tearing into the flesh of the beast with his two daggers. The dragon writhes in pain and leaps into the air, soaring above Junes.

 

Kanji, Naoto, and Rise sprint out of the store, running to us and looking to the dragon in the air. Rise blinks, and tilts her head. “What’s with the armor?”

 

Naoto points her pistol at the dragon, closing one eye and aiming. Kanji seems to be wielding a sign from the store, holding it like a baseball bat as he looks to the four of us. “You come prepared for this, or somethin’? You look like you just came from some faire.”

 

I wave my hand dismissively. “We’ll explain later. We need to kill this dragon, first.”

 

Yukiko nods. “Yeah. We don’t want the police to come here and freak out, let’s hurry.” She points her staff, and starts blasting bolt after bolt of fire. Most of them dissolve into the sky, but a few manage to hit its hide. Naoto lets off a few shots from the gun, the dragon flinches and once again dives towards us.

 

“Outta’ the way!” Yosuke yells. We all scramble out of the way once more as the dragon skids across the road. It turns to Rise and Yosuke as it takes a deep breath.

 

 I widen my eyes. “GET OUT OF THE WAY!” I yell. Yosuke screeches and dives to push Rise and himself out of the dragon’s stream of fire, the street and sidewalk becoming scorched and blackened.

 

Naoto fires another shot into the dragon’s eye, fliching as more firebolts hit its hide. Chie looks to me. “Alright, guys. Pile on, ready?”

 

I nod, the group charging once more as the weakened dragon’s reflexes start slowing down.  I start putting more of my strength into each slash that cut open the dragon’s hide. Kanji seems to be smashing its neck with the heavy looking sign. Soon, the dragon falls limp, but looks to me.

 

“Joore. There are no coincidences. This will keep happening. The only way to stop the onslaught of the dov, you will… play along. You are not finished. He knows you left.”

 

I stop, and run towards the dragon’s head. “Who?” I shout. “Who sent you?”

 

The beast lets out what could be considered a laugh. “It’s not your job to know. He… just wants the dovahkiin… prepared for what he needs done to him.”

 

The beast closes its eye, and slumps. It’s dead. Everyone stops their assault, and backs away. Yosuke frowns, and sheathes his daggers. “Guys. It wants us back in the TV World. This is bullshit.” He throws his arms in the air. “It’s not fair! We just got out!”

 

Naoto blinks, and shakes her head. “You guys were in the TV World?” She asks, looking over our armor. “What was that dragon? That’s why you’re in armor... but how did you guys end up in there?”

 

I sheathe my sword, and beckon the group over. “C’mon. I’ll explain why we head to Yosuke’s house. Preferable before people start noticing the teenagers in armor and a dead dragon.”

 

We all start walking briskly towards Yosuke’s house once more. I start again. “We were at Yosuke’s house. He was showing off his new game and TV, and then we were suddenly sucked into the TV. When we landed, we were in Skyrim.”

 

Kanji crosses his arms. “You guys were trapped in a video game?”

 

Chie nods. “Yeah, and thanks to the weird way time works in the game, we were trapped in there for four or five days.”

 

Rise frowns. “That sounds awful! Everything in the trailers was all brown. And everything looked dirty.”

 

Yukiko shook her head. “It’s… it was interesting, to say the least.”

 

After twenty or so minutes of walking and telling stories of what happened, we reach Yosuke’s house. Yosuke steps in front of us and opens the door.

 

Teddie pops up as we head inside Yosuke’s room. “What happened? Are you guys okay?”

 

I nod. “Yeah. But we’ll have to go back into the TV World, or more dragons will attack Inaba.”

 

Teddie flails his arms. “WHAT?! Dragons? A dragon attacked and I didn’t come?! That’s-.”

 

Yosuke interrupts. “Wait. My stuff was unplugged the whole time. How did the dragon attack? Where did it even come from?”

 

Natoto shrugs. “I assume since Skyrim is a part of the TV World, it doesn’t need the game system to sustain itself.”

 

Chie steps to the TV. “Well. If we don’t need the game to be on, let’s go before another dragon starts attacking.”

 

I nod, and watch everyone dive into the TV, one by one. As soon as everyone is in, I take a step forward and dive headfirst into the TV.

 

_Well, at least we won’t let Dunjar down._

 

I open my eyes to find myself in the inn room we were at when Teddie arrived. The room looks practically unchanged. I look to where I left the note, and find it to be gone.

 

Yuikiko walks up to me and hands me a note. “This was left on the bed.” She said.

 

I hold the note up and read it out loud. “Kids, you’ve been a decent lot. I’ve appreciated your time and help. It won’t kill you if you’d come visit every once and a while. Well, maybe it will kill you, but I assume you all are tougher than that. Dunjar.”

 

Chie laughs. “The big stone-faced bear really does like us!”

 

Rise frowns. “It’s kind of cold.” She rubs her arms and twists her torso from side to side.

 

Yosuke shakes his head. “It doesn’t get much better, trust me.”

 

I shrug. “It won’t be enough to kill you. We’ll work on getting you three some armor, when we get more money. We spent all ours getting the stuff we got.”

 

Naoto nods. “Of course. Now… we’ll have to find out where to go, next. I assume you four know more about this world than I do.”

 

I nod. “Let’s go see if Dunjar has returned, yet. Or at least someone who knows where he is. He’s at the center of all that’s going on, as everyone keeps talking about the dragonborn. Or the ‘dovahkiin’.”

 

I look to Teddie, scratching my head at the bear. I think it’d be better if you got out of the suit.”

 

Teddie groans. “D’aww! I’m sure I won’t be a _claws_ for alarm!” But he unzips the head and steps out of the suit anyway. It seems he’s grown a bit taller and got a new outfit, a blue and white striped t-shirt with an anchor design, navy shorts, and yellow shoes.

 

We all walk out of the inn room. I look around, and see Delphine standing in the middle. She smirks, and walks up to us. “We thought you guys were gone for good. But it seems you guys only wandered off for a day. He looks over to Teddie, Rise, Kanji, and Naoto. “And you brought some new people.”

 

I shrug. “It seems the circumstances have changed. We need to find Dunjar.”

 

The Blades member strokes her chin. “He left for Riften a few hours ago on his own. I suppose you can take a carriage there and hope to catch up.”

 

Yosuke nods. “Got’cha! We’ll head there as soon as we can.”

 

Delphine holds a hand up. “But may I get the names of the newcomers?”

 

“Rise Kujikawa!” The pig-tailed pop star says.

 

“Naoto Shirogane.” The tomboyish woman in the police outfit follows.

 

“Kanji Tatsumi.” The blonde, thuggish looking tall man says.

 

“Teddie! Nice to meet you!” The other blonde, windswept haired teen says.

 

The former innkeeper nods, and waves a hand. “Delphine. Nice to meet you., now you have a nord to catch up to. I suggest you hurry.”

 

Yosuke turns, and beckons us to follow. “C’mon! Our first case as the newly reunited Investigation Team awaits!”

 

The rest of us follow. “I have some money left. I’ll get a few blankets from the inn room chest. Naoto.” I say, taking my money pouch and handing it to her. “There’s about two hundred coins in it. It’s nowhere near enough to get you all armor, but you guys will need weapons. Go to the blacksmith near here, and arm yourselves how you choose. You’ll all need at least one.”

 

Kanji nods. “Good thinkin’. I’ll get me the most badass weapon they have.”

 

The team leaves the inn; as I go to the inn room, kneeling down to open the chest. I take several blankets and stuff them in my satchel. They feel somewhat scratchy, but seem warm enough. I close the chest and stand up once more, leaving the room and closing the door.

 

Delphine stops me, once more. “Hey.” She says. “Your new friends have those powers, too?” She asks.

 

I nod. “Yeah. They have Personas, why do you ask?”

 

She crosses her arms. “Well. It seems Dunjar’s pretty lucky to have you guys, then. I’m not sure what those things you summon are, but I trust that with all of you, maybe not all hope is lost in Skyrim.”

 

“Thank you.” I say, and give a bow of my head. I turn to leave, and walk towards the door. I open it and embrace the nipping cold, once more. The sky is somewhat dark, but I can tell by some of the business being open that it’s not too late. I see everyone sitting on the carriage parked outside. I make my way to it and climb aboard.

 

Yosuke turns to the driver. “We’re ready.” He says.

 

The driver nods, as the carriage starts moving. I take the blankets out and start passing them towards the back. The four blankets are distributed, as we all start draping them across ourselves.

 

“Thanks, Yu!” Rise says, and smiles.

 

            “Of course.” I say. “What all did you guys get?” I tilt my head.

 

            Kanji holds up his two handed warhammer. “Got the biggest thing I could find.” He grins.

 

            Naoto holds up a shortbow. “I have the best weapon I could find for the way I prefer to fight.”

 

            Rise holds up a dagger. “I got something just in case.”

 

            Teddie holds up a shortsword. “Yeah! When do we fight!?”

 

            Yosuke shrugs. “Whenever something tries to attack us. But right now, we’re just going to rest until we get to wherever we’re supposed to end up at.”

 

            Teddie makes a whining sound. “Bleh. I wanted to slash things!”

 

            I rest my head and shrug. “We’ll have plenty of that, trust me. Though, it’ll be easier when it’s nine of us against stuff. Eight of us having Personas, and one able to literally shout at things until they die.”

 

            Rise widens her eyes. “What?”

 

            Yosuke shudders. “He’s loud. But that wasn’t a joke. He has some kind of power. He’s able to do things with his voice. Like shouting people off of cliffs, or running really fast.”

 

            Naoto blinks. “That would be a useful power, indeed.”

 

            Yukiko nods. “Yeah. He’s also really strong, too. He managed to hold a dragon back with his strength.”

 

            I start to close my eyes. Today has been exhausting. Too many things going on, but this rest is what I need after everything that’s happened.

 

_The gang’s all here. Now it’s time to get to the bottom of this._


	7. Chapter Seven: Cornered Rats and Thieves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Investigation Team follows Dunjar to Riften to assist in his next mission.

_This carriage could benefit from the invention of the brake._

            I’m jerked awake by the sudden stop of the carriage. The driver looks back to us and nods. “We’re here.”

 

            I nod, and climb out of the blanket’s embrace and hop off of the cart. I take the blanket I had and roll it up. The others slowly hop off of the carriage, one at a time and haphazardly fold and crumple the blankets. I take each one and stuff them into my bag.

 

            Yosuke blinks. “How much stuff do you have, Yu? Sheesh. Doesn’t that stuff get heavy after a while?”

 

            I shrug. “A little. I’m sure you can spare room in yours to carry them.”

 

            Yosuke shrugs. “Sure. Besides, you’re the one who usually carries the super important stuff.”

 

            While we head towards the gate, I take the fabric out of my pack and hand them to Yosuke.  When we reach the entrance, the two burly guards close in on the door. “You got the visitor’s tax?” The one on the left asks, but it really doesn’t sound like that was a question from the intimidating tone.

 

            I narrow my eyes and cross my arms. “Visitor’s tax? I’ve never heard of anything like that.” Of course, the investigation team react in their own ways. Kanji glares and spreads his stance. Naoto gives a stony stare forward. Teddie and Rise give their own angry expressions. Yosuke rolls his eyes.

 

            The other one steps forward. “I ain’t ever heard of you, either. Just pay the tax, and we’ll let you pass.”

 

            Suddenly, Chie starts talking in an overly loud, faux-scared voice that drips with sarcasm. “Oh no. Not a shakedown from the guards.” She cups her face with both hands.

 

            Yukiko gives a cocky smile and joins in. “Are we really going to be a victim of some scam?”

 

            Both of them back away, cringing under their helmets. “Keep your voice down. Do you want the entire town to hear you? Just… just go.” The guard on the left says, as he digs in a pocket to take out a key. He sticks it into the lock and turns. They both push open the gate and step out of the way. “Welcome to Riften.” The other says. His voice drips with both malice and defeat.

 

            Chie gives a sickeningly sweet smile. “Thank you.” She says, as we pass by them.

 

            I look around, this town’s buildings are faded, the sky seems pale, and everything just seems… seedy.

 

            Another man, leaning against a post, stops us once more. “I don't know you, you in Riften lookin' for trouble?" He says to us.

 

            I shook my head. “No. We’re passing through.”

 

            He spits on the ground. “Ain’t nothin’ to see. We don’t need a buncha’ kids poking their noses where they don’t belong.”

 

            I shrug, and continue on my way. “I’m not scared.” The others follow me as the other man snorts.

 

            “Wrong answer.” I hear. I was expecting for him to come and try to intimidate me more, but it seems he’s leaving us alone.

 

            Kanji rolls his eyes. “Is everyone in this world gonna’ to try and intimidate us?”

 

            Naoto pokes me on the shoulder. “Where do we start looking for this person?” She asks.

 

            I shrug. “He’s a nord. It’s a Viking parallel. I’m starting at the tavern.”

 

            Yosuke snorts. “I’m pretty sure he’d be at the next fight.”

 

            As I peer at a sign reading ‘The Bee and Barb’, An old man nudges Yukiko. “Spare a septim for an old man?” He asks. He looks dirty, his hair is an unwashed white, and sports the ghost of a wiry built withered by starvation.

 

            Yukiko frowns, and takes out a few coins. She hands them to the beggar and gives a small smile. “I wish you luck.”

 

            He nods, and smiles widely. “Thank you. Divines bless the ground you walk on.”

 

            Yosuke pulls Yukiko away, and heads towards the tavern in front of us. We all follow as I get in front and open the door, the wall of warmth hitting me.

 

            “What the hell were you doing?! We need that money!” Yosuke rubs his face and shakes his head.

 

            I cross my arms. “It’s only a few coins. Besides-.”

 

            Yosuke interrupts. “Yeah, but it’s a game. It’s not like they’re real.” At this point, his tone was hushed.

 

            “Well.” I start, “Dunjar doesn’t seem like a bunch of code.”

 

            Yosuke blinks. “Bu-… that’s a good point. He’s supposed to be a silent protagonist. His ‘personality’ is decided by the player’s dialogue options.”

 

            Teddie shrugs. “The TV World does strange things. Maybe this world really isn’t code.”

 

            I scan the tavern, and see Dunjar sitting at the bar. He takes another swig out of a bottle, laughing at a story he’s telling.

 

            I point in the direction and start walking. “If you look to your right, Yosuke, you can see me being right.”

 

            Teddie laughs to himself, as the dragonborn turns to me. He gives a nod, and raises his bottle towards us. “Welcome back, Yu. Didn’t think you’d come back this quickly.”

 

            The rest of the team walks forward, the nord quirking a brow. “There’s more of you, now?”

 

            I nod. “Indeed. It seems our paths merged, as circumstance has us finishing out this journey with you.”

 

            The bearish nord nods, and stands. “Well. May I get the names of the new people?”

 

            “Kanji Tatsumi.” The blonde thug gives a two fingered wave.

 

            “Rise Kujikawa.” The brunette waves.

 

            “Naoto Shirogane.” The detective gives a bow.

 

            “Teddie!” He smiles and waves. “It’s _bear-y_ nice to meet you!”

 

            The Skyrim native nods, and heads towards the door. “Well. As long as my entourage is back, let’s go do what I was supposed to do hours ago.”

 

            Chie blinks. “What are we doing, again?”

 

            “We’re going to find Esbern, an old colleague of Delphine. He knows something we don’t.” He replies.

 

            We exit the tavern and start walking through Riften, letting Dunjar take the lead. “We’ll be heading down to the Ratways. That’s where he’s located. So be prepared for unshady types. Luckily I met a guy who knew the location in the bar. We might even run into him.” The nord says.

 

            We head down to the docks, as Dunjar looks at signs on the doors. He taps one of the door with his knuckles. “This is the door.” He smirks, and opens it. “Careful, we got thugs crawling around the place, supposedly. Be ready for some shit.” He chuckles, and draws his weapons.

 

            We head inside, to see narrow, stone tunnels shrouded in darkness. Each step makes an extended echo, and with this many people, we’d be detected in seconds. But we keep walking, I keep my eyes focused on the front, being next to Dunjar. My vision focused on finding any abnormal movements, I keep my hand on the handle of my sword.

 

            I hear footsteps rapidly approaching from in front of us. I draw my sword, but by the time I could get into a battle stance, The bearish nord had already charged at a man with a large steel hammer. I heard a ‘thunk’, Dunjar’s swords impaling the man and sending him to the ground. I hear sickening gurgles and moans of pain, but I decide to try and ignore it and keep walking forward. The rest of the team steps around the dying man as we kept traversing the dark tunnel.

 

            I keep my sword out, and progress through the tunnel quickly. After a few turns, Dunjar stops me, the rest of the group halting as well. He takes a few careful steps, and looks down. He steps on a plate, a spiked door flying towards us and stopping inches from Dunjar’s face. “You’ll have to be more perceptive than that if you don’t want to be grinded into pieces of meat. I’ll keep this up, everyone go around.”

 

            I nod, and walk around the spiked door, the rest of the team follows. They seem pretty quiet, for once. I reach the next room to have a bare-fisted nord sprint up to me, hands up at the ready. I take a step to the left and summon my tarot card, immediately crushing it. “Izanagi!” I yell, my Persona appearing and bull rushing the assaulting man. He’s tackled and knocked against the wall, the body slumping on the ground. He isn’t moving, but his breathing seems to be fine. The group looks to me, and I just shrug. “Let’s just leave him be.” I say.

 

            The dragonborn walks into the room, and looks at the unconscious thug. “…Eesh, Yu. Took the man down without even inviting me. Rude.” He gives a smirk, and pats me on the shoulder. “Good job. Hopefully we aren’t too far.” Dunjar shrugs and continues onward. We follow through the dank underground system of rooms and corridors, each step one of us takes leaving an echo. I clutch my sword as I hear a faint conversation in the distance. Dunjar stops us once more, before we head into the next room. It was clear they knew someone was there from the abrupt silence of the voices.

 

            Dunjar sprints in, and lets out an impossibly loud bellow from his gut. “FUS… ROH DAH!” The two men are immediately knocked back against the wall, but one manages to get up and holds up his axe. But suddenly, from behind me sails an arrow. The charging thug falls to the ground, limp. I look behind me with shock and see Naoto slowly lower her bow. “Pulling back the arrow proves to be an endeavor, but my aim is nothing to be questioned.”

 

            Yosuke stares blankly. “Didn’t you just _get_ that bow? I’m pretty sure guns and bows aim differently.”

 

            Naoto pulls another arrow from her quiver. “I’m pretty sure I just shot a man in the head. So I suggest living in reality.”

 

            Dunjar rolls his eyes, and kneels down and grabs the still-alive other nord by the collar. His stare bores through the other man’s eyes, foreheads almost touching. “If you run, we don’t kill you. If I catch you around, or find out you sent people, I’ll make sure that the best whores in Skyrim will marvel at how much room you have in your throat for my swords.”

 

            The man widens his eyes, and breaks away. He sprints past us, and bolts through the corridors. I stare blankly, as the group gives an awkward silence, broken by a, “Daaaaaammmmnnnnn.” from Yosuke.

 

            Kanji walks up and elbows me in the gut lightly. “Neat friend you made.” He snickers, as we start walking forward once more. Though, it’s still apparent on all of our faces that what just happened was somewhat shocking.

 

            Dunjar quirks a brow, and hefts his two swords once more, leading the way. “What? I figured you kids would have liked the fact we didn’t kill that one.”

 

            Chie scratches her head. “Well, that was actually kinda’ intimidating. Didn’t think you’d be that colorful with your threats.”

 

            Naoto shrugs. “A tough people need tough words.” She says. We continue through the dark hallways, before Dunjar comes in contact with a door. He opens it and swings it to the wall, keeping it open for the rest of us.

 

            We enter the room, a lot bigger and more well lit than the rest of the Ratways. I see a body of water with a small system of docks in the middle, and on the far side of the room a bar. Dunjar walks the path around the small pond and passes some of the people sitting at a few tables near the bar. The rough looking thieves in leather armor look to the nord with quirked brows or cautious glares. As soon as they see us, they begin actively turning to the new distraction.

 

            The bearish warrior rests his arms on the bartop, looking to the barkeep. “Brynjolf told me you know where an… Esbern might be.”

 

            The bartender crosses his arms and stares into the nord. “Why should I tell you?”

 

            Dunjar shrugs. “Well. It could be because Brynjolf said you would tell me. That, and I’m the dragonborn, and I can kick your ass.”

 

            The man behind the counter cracks a smile. “Fine. He’s in the Ratway Warrens. He’s locked up tight, good luck talking to him about anything, though.” He looks to us, though with a quirked brow. “One night stands get the best of you?” The rest of the bar gives light snickers, as the dragonborn strokes his beard.

 

            “Nah.” The warrior says. “Just a few friends.”

 

            I nod, as the rest of the Investigation Team tries, and mostly succeeds, at looking casual. The barkeeper points to the door to the right of the bar. “Take the far door, and you’ll end up at the Ratway Warrens. Good luck with the old guy.”

 

            The dragonborn nods, and heads towards the location pointed out to him. I start to follow as Yosuke taps my shoulder. “Dude. Did you see that?” He asks.

 

            I blink, and look behind me. “I didn’t.”

 

            Yosuke takes a card out of his pocket. “Some red-headed guy just snuck this card into my pocket. I think he uh… wants me to join some sorta’ Thieves Guild.”

 

            I shrug, and head to the door, after seeing Dunjar exist the ‘tavern’.  “I wouldn’t pay much mind to it. Let’s just go.” I say, as I open the door and head right for the darkness once more. I hear the sound of everyone drawing their weapons again, and I do the same.

 

            Dunjar lets out a roar, as he charges towards something around a corner. I hear the sounds of steel clashing against each other. I run around the corner and hold my sword up high. I see two figures with swords and shields, clad in black robes. I see another further back whose hands spark with lightning.

 

            I charge at the man Dunjar isn’t currently dealing with and send my sword screaming downwards towards his neck. I only manage to slice his shoulder, as the person slams his shield into my gut. I land on my back, suddenly hearing “Persona!” from Kanji.

 

            His Persona, Take-Mikazuchi, soars from behind me to tackle the man who had knocked me down. The giant, black-clad, mechanical-looking being raises his lightning shaped sword-like object and thrusts downward. The bolt pierces the man’s gut, as I hear. “Zionga!” The lightning that runs down the blade courses through the soldier, finally leaving him limp. The Persona fades, as I finally look to Dunjar.

 

            The nord had overpowered the other soldier, the hood flying behind him as he revealed himself to look… vaguely elvish. Pointed features, elongated ears, and pointed eyes all mark him of something I might have seen in some fantasy movie somewhere. But before any one of them make a move, I hear someone else shatter their tarot card.

 

            “Sukuna-Hikona!” Naoto yells, her Persona appearing beside her. The blue-clad winged being raises a hand, as the detective begins to shout. “Be engulfed in light! Hamaon!” A circle of light begins to circle around the caster in the back, who had nearly finished his spell. A flash of light blinds me for a second, as I raise my arm to shield my eyes. The only thing I could hear that second was a scream. When I put my arm down, I see nothing left of the spellcaster.

 

            Everyone else opens their eyes; I turn my head briefly to check on the team. But I quickly whip my head back in front of me when I hear a dull, ‘thunk!’. Dunjar’s swords once again shrouded by the enemy’s insides, the elf’s eyes slowly lose life and limbs start to fall limp.

 

            Dunjar kicks the elf and lets the body fall to the floor. He furrows his brows and looks to Naoto, a stern look boring down onto the detective. “Neat trick. But next time, warn us. That could have been me on the other side of his blade. We can’t afford to be casually disoriented.”

 

            Naoto blinks. She adjusts her hat and nods. “I apologize. I’ll be sure to warn you when an attack of mine might affect someone.”

 

            Dunjar nods, and hands me a set of short, thin metal objects. “I see a chest, it has a lock on it, so I advise getting yourself or someone else well-versed in lockpicking.”

 

            I nod, but Yosuke pokes my shoulder. “Lemme at it. I’ve done the lockpicking stuff in this game. It shouldn’t be much different.” I hand him my lockpicks and clutch my sword once more. No moment in this place is a safe one. Yosuke kneels down onto the chest, and sticks one of the rods into the lock, carefully placing one of the picks in and rotating. He closes one eye in concentration, but quickly groans as the snap of the lockpick echoes through the tunnels. “Shit. Almost had it!” He takes another lockpick, and keeps at it.

 

            While Yosuke keeps fiddling with the lock, Rise comes up to me. “Is there anything I can do?”

 

            I blink. “Hm.” I say, while I think of something Rise could do right now. “There is. Can your Persona see if thee are any shadows in this world?”

 

            She nods. “Yeah! I can do that.” She summons her Persona, Himiko, wearing an elegant white gown and a satellite dish on her head. She places some circular device around Rise’s line of vision. Dunjar creeps back, and quirks a brow.

 

            “By the Divines! What are you doing with that… thing?” The bearish warrior asks.

 

            Rise concentrates for a few moments, before letting her Persona fade. “That was my Persona. I checked as far as I could for shadows. I haven’t sensed any, but this world is pretty big. I have a feeling I didn’t get everything.”

 

            Yukiko shrugs. “That’s fine. It’s still a good thing we don’t have any shadows near us. I have a feeling if we had any shadows near us, we’d start seeing shadow selves.”

 

            Chie shook her head. “Yukiko’s right. The last thing we need happening is for us to run into those. There are a lot more people, this time.”

 

            Yosuke, finally done with his lockpicking, rises and hefts his sack of gold pieces. “Yeah. I’m not really sure how this place works, this time, but if all these people are susceptible to getting shadow selves…” He gulps. “We’ll be doing a lot of hard fighting.”

 

            Dunjar blinks, and crosses his arms. “You’ve told be about those. But I suppose if we’ve confirmed that they aren’t a problem, maybe we can get to the task at hand.” He waves an arm over, as he start walking towards the next exit.

 

            I follow, as well as the team. I come to the next room, seeing two levels of cells. Dunjar, once again, seems to be looking for something or someone in particular. My spine tingles as I hear a haggard, high-pitched old woman making incoherent ramblings. I take careful steps, clutching my sword tightly and keeping it up. Each rustle, each faint step from afar, and every voice I hear leaves my head turning, eyes darting. I look back briefly to see the rest of the Investigation Team holding their weapons cautiously as well.

 

            Dunjar, however, looked more natural than the rest of us. He walks up the steps leading to the second floor. He starts to walk with a purpose, towards the other end of the room. I climb up the stairs and see at that end, a solid door with a hole in the middle that could open.

 

            The nord reaches the door, and knocks. The rectangular strip in the middle opens up. I hear the voice of an older man, an air of caution and anxiety resonating from his words. “What? Who are you?”

 

            Dunjar leans close and says. “Delphine says to remember the… Thirtieth of Frostfall.”

 

            The older man widens his eyes. “Delphine?!  She’s still out and about? And who are you?”

 

            The nord gives a short laugh. “I’m the Dragonborn.”

 

            The old man seems… almost excited. “The dragonborn?! Just.. give me a second.” The sound of clicks and clanks occur for a few seconds before the door opens. “Come in, D-…” He stares at the rest of us. “…Who are they?” He quirks a brow, backing away cautiously.

 

            The dragonborn gestures to us. “They’re only friends of mine.”

 

            The older man shakes his head. “Just you. The rest can stay here while we talk.”

 

            The nord frowns, and lets out a sigh. “I can understand your paranoia.” He looks to me. “Just keep guard. He’s very wanted, according to his record left by the Thalmor.”

 

            I nod. “Of course, Dunjar.”

 

            The warrior gives a small grin, and walks inside the cell. The door closes, and the locks start clinking and clicking once more. I walk to the wall and sit, leaning against it. “Well. There are a lot of paranoid people inside this world.”

 

            Naoto shrugs. “It’s only natural. This world is based on nordic themes and old European styles. The way we look is going to raise suspicion.”

 

            Yosuke sits next to me, crossing his arms. “Fighting in this prison thing is awful. Only two or three of us can really do anything because the tunnels are so narrow. Why is it only when we get to fight in an open space, it’s a freakin’ dragon?”

 

            Kanji shook his head. “Well it ain’t like a dragon’s gonna’ fit here. It’s a one-person game. The fact we’re in here is sorta’ like cheating.”

 

            Rise blinks. “If this is a game, why are they reacting so… specific to us? I mean… they seem like they have minds of their own.”

 

            Yosuke rubs his chin. “Well. Considering dragons from here can exit from Junes, they’re a part of the TV World, now. It wouldn’t be that hard to imagine that this world could give all these people emotions.”

 

            I raise my head up. “Wait.” I look around. “If the TV World is a manifestation of a person’s feelings or thoughts, why is it Skyrim? Who was thrown in here to make the world like this?”

 

            Chie shrugs. “That’s a good question. Why is it Yosuke’s version of Skyrim, anyway? Not to mention this is the most elaborate the TV world has ever gotten in creating a world.”

 

            I sigh. “I have a feeling things are far more complicated than we know. Something or someone knows about us. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it was one of our TVs or games that started this.”

 

            Yukiko nods. “Not to mention I’ve never really seen the TV World give someone that never even existed a personality. Not to mention a whole world.”

 

            Teddie springs up. “Maybe that’s the point! Something or someone’s creating personalities out of preset codes!”

 

            Kanji shrugs. “I’m not gonna’ stress it until I start seeing shadows. I’m just going through the motions until whatever’s trying to pull us along shows itself.”

 

            I look up to Kanji. “Perhaps that’s a good way to look at it. But we’ll still need to look out for stuff.”

 

            The door opens. The nord and the old man walk out of the room. “Let’s go. We’re ready to head back to Delphine. You ready to see sunlight, Esbern?” Dunjar asks.

 

            The old man nods. “Of course. I suppose if I’m going to go out and help the dragonborn, a whole group might as well come. More members of the Blades, as far as I care.” He chuckles lightly.

 

            Yosuke and I get up. I take out my sword again, and hold it up. “We’re ready.” I say, the rest of the group holding up their weapons up again as well.

 

_Of course, we still Skyrim’s mystery to unveil._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this far! Constructive criticism is welcome!


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